Latest News
It’s too early to consider recognition of IEA: US
The United States said Wednesday no foreign government is contemplating legitimacy for the new government in Afghanistan.
“I think there’s actually a global consensus to include Moscow and Beijing and Iran, that it’s too early to look at recognition,” Donald Lu, U.S. assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, told VOA in an interview.
“Yes, some countries are beginning a very slow process of normalization of relations. No one is talking about formal recognition,” Lu said.
The U.S. diplomat noted that international discussions instead were focused on seeking an engagement with the IEA that can help improve the situation on the ground in Afghanistan in terms of the rights of women and girls, and security.
“We, as partner countries, should also be working with authorities in Afghanistan to create a better world for Afghan people to try to influence what is happening in Afghanistan for the betterment of the people of Afghanistan, but also a stable region.”
The IEA seized power last August when U.S. and NATO partners withdrew their final troops, ending almost two decades of foreign military intervention in the country.
The US urges the IEA to remove sanctions on women, reopen girls’ schools above the sixth grade and allow them to have access to work if it wants to be recognized.
“It’s critical that all of us work together to try to encourage the Taliban (IEA) onto a constructive path,” Lu said. He emphasized the IEA “now has to get to the business of governance.”
Washington has made it clear repeatedly that no legitimacy is possible unless and until the IEA reverse their restrictions on women and induct representatives of other ethnic Afghan groups into the government.
Lu cautioned the IEA rulers that the investment made by the global community over the past 20 years “will shape the future” of the country, and they “cannot merely impose their own will” on millions of Afghans.
Lu said that the IEA supreme leader renewed his resolve Wednesday in a message he issued in connection with this week’s Muslim festival of Eid-ul-Adha.
“The Islamic Emirate is committed to upholding all the rights of its citizens, as Islam commands us to grant and protect the rights of all people. And within the framework of the Sharia law, the rights of women will be ensured,” IEA’s supreme leader said.
“Within the framework of mutual interaction and commitment, we want good, diplomatic, economic and political relations with the world, including the United States, and we consider this in the interest of all sides,” Mullah Haibatullah Akhunzada further added.
Neighboring and regional countries, including China and Pakistan — which shares a long border with Afghanistan — have kept their diplomatic and trade contacts open with the IEA, citing dire humanitarian and economic emergencies facing the country’s estimated 40 million population.
But these nations also are pressing the IEA to rule the country through a politically inclusive administration, ease curbs on women and desist from cracking down on dissent before they decide to consider the IEA’s call for a formal recognition of their government.
“We hope Afghanistan to be stable, peaceful, pursues a moderate policy and to meet the expectations,” said Wang Yu, China’s ambassador to Kabul, while addressing a rare news conference Tuesday in the Afghan capital.
Lu told VOA that Central Asian countries also are worried about security threats coming from Afghanistan. The U.S. is talking with them about how it can help with cross-border security and “facilitate conversation with this very unusual IEA’s government,” he added.
Meanwhile, Akhundzada reassured Afghanistan’s neighbors and the world at large Wednesday that the IEA would not allow anyone to use their territory to threaten the security of other countries.
In his Eid message, the leader of the Islamic Emirate called for diplomatic relations with all countries, including the United States.
Russia, China, Iran, Pakistan, Qatar, UAE, Turkey, India, and even Saudi Arabia, which are important regional countries, have asked the Islamic Emirate to create an inclusive government, but the IEA considers the current system to be inclusive.
The Embassy of Japan in Afghanistan announced on Friday that the country has allocated $19.5 million in humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.
In a statement, the Japanese Embassy said it hopes the aid will help bring positive change to the lives of vulnerable Afghans.
According to the statement, the assistance will cover the basic humanitarian needs of vulnerable communities in Afghanistan.
The embassy added that the aid will be delivered through United Nations agencies, international organizations, and Japanese non-governmental organizations operating in Afghanistan.
Japan’s total assistance to Afghanistan since August 2021 has reached more than $549 million.
Security forces at the Islam Qala border in Herat province prevented hundreds of young Afghans from illegally entering Iran.
Officials from the 207 Al-Farooq Army Corps said that around 530 people attempted over the past two days to illegally enter Iranian territory through areas of Kohsan district in Herat, but border forces detained them and transferred them back to their original areas.
Meanwhile, officials in the local administration of Herat said that due to severe cold along the illegal migration route to Iran, three Afghan migrants have lost their lives in the Kohsan district of the province, and a shepherd has also died there for the same reason.
Mohammad Yousuf Saeedi, spokesperson for the Herat governor’s office, said that some statistics and images shared on social media regarding the incident are not reliable.
According to him, further investigations are underway to determine whether any individuals have died on the other side of the border.
President Donald Trump suspended the green card lottery program on Thursday that allowed the suspect in the Brown University and MIT shootings to come to the United States.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a post on the social platform X that, at Trump’s direction, she is ordering the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to pause the program, the Associated Press reported.
“This heinous individual should never have been allowed in our country,” she said of the suspect, Portuguese national Claudio Neves Valente.
Neves Valente, 48, is suspected in the shootings at Brown University that killed two students and wounded nine others, and the killing of an MIT professor. He was found dead Thursday evening from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, officials said.
Neves Valente had studied at Brown on a student visa beginning in 2000, according to an affidavit from a Providence police detective. In 2017, he was issued a diversity immigrant visa and months later obtained legal permanent residence status, according to the affidavit. It was not immediately clear where he was between taking a leave of absence from the school in 2001 and getting the visa in 2017.
The diversity visa program makes up to 50,000 green cards available each year by lottery to people from countries that are little represented in the U.S., many of them in Africa. The lottery was created by Congress, and the move is almost certain to invite legal challenges.
Nearly 20 million people applied for the 2025 visa lottery, with more than 131,000 selected when including spouses with the winners. After winning, they must undergo vetting to win admission to the United States. Portuguese citizens won only 38 slots.
Lottery winners are invited to apply for a green card. They are interviewed at consulates and subject to the same requirements and vetting as other green-card applicants.
Trump has long opposed the diversity visa lottery. Noem’s announcement is the latest example of using tragedy to advance immigration policy goals. After an Afghan man was identified as the gunman in a fatal attack on National Guard members in November, Trump’s administration imposed sweeping rules against immigration from Afghanistan and other counties.
While pursuing mass deportation, Trump has sought to limit or eliminate avenues to legal immigration. He has not been deterred if they are enshrined in law, like the diversity visa lottery, or the Constitution, as with a right to citizenship for anyone born on U.S. soil. The Supreme Court recently agreed to hear his challenge to birthright citizenship.
Tawsia: India’s enthusiasm for investing in Afghanistan discussed
Japan allocates nearly $20 million in humanitarian aid for Afghanistan
Afghan border forces prevent illegal entry of hundreds into Iran
US pauses green card lottery program after Brown University shooting
India issues over 200 medical visas to Afghans in last four months
Afghanistan U19 cricket team defeats India A U19
Afghanistan economy under pressure as Pakistan shocks reshape trade flows
Gaza death toll tops 70,000, health ministry says
India set to establish pharmaceutical factories in Afghanistan: MoIC
Afghanistan offers tax breaks, free land to attract Indian investors
Tawsia: India’s enthusiasm for investing in Afghanistan discussed
Tahawol: Global concerns over migration escalation discussed
Saar: Calls for Afghanistan’s balanced, economy-oriented foreign policy discussed
Tahawol: Discussion on regional countries’ meetings on Afghanistan
Saar: Regional efforts to address Afghanistan-Pakistan issues discussed
-
Latest News5 days agoGermany speeds up admission of Afghans from Pakistan
-
Sport5 days agoIPL 2026 Auction set for Abu Dhabi with $28.6 million purse at stake
-
Latest News5 days agoAfghanistan to establish independent oil and gas authority
-
Latest News5 days agoUS intelligence chief warns of ‘direct threat’ from suspected terrorists inside the country
-
Latest News4 days agoIEA supreme leader stresses enforcement of Sharia law and sincere public service
-
International Sports5 days agoILT20: Desert Vipers qualify for playoffs with five-wicket win over Dubai Capitals
-
World5 days agoFather and son behind Bondi Jewish festival shooting that killed 15, Australian police say
-
International Sports5 days agoATN secures broadcast rights for four major AFC sporting events