Amir Khan Muttaqi, Acting Foreign Minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has met with Chen Xiaodong, Director of China’s International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), to discuss bilateral cooperation and China’s ongoing development projects in Afghanistan.

During the meeting, Muttaqi expressed gratitude to the Chinese agency for its role in Afghanistan’s economic reconstruction, stating that after ensuring security, IEA’s top priority is the country’s economic rebuilding.

Muttaqi also voiced hope for closer collaboration between Afghanistan and China in the fields of agriculture, energy, and long-term infrastructure development.

He presented practical proposals to the Chinese side, suggesting areas that could be prioritized in Afghanistan’s reconstruction process.

In response, Chen reaffirmed CIDCA’s commitment to working with Afghanistan in sectors such as healthcare, energy, agriculture, and capacity-building.

He also pledged support for infrastructure development, livestock improvement, and feasibility studies in the oil and gas sectors.

Czech President Petr Pavel granted pardons on Wednesday to four members of the country’s special forces, who had been facing prosecution for alleged crimes related to the death of a detained Afghan soldier.

The four members of the 601st special operations forces group were to stand trial on charges of extortion, insubordination, violation of guard duty obligations and failure to provide aid, Reuters reported.

Czech media had reported that the accusations related to the death of 19-year-old Wahidullah Khan after he was detained over an attack on troops at the Shindand base in western Afghanistan in 2018.

One Czech soldier was killed in the attack and two others were injured.

“After carefully assessing all the circumstances of this case, the President of the Republic took into account in particular the exceptional nature of the war situation in which the incident under investigation occurred,” Pavel’s office said.

It added that the fact the soldiers were not primarily accused of violent crimes had also been taken into consideration.

The New York Times first reported the incident in 2018. It reported that Khan was beaten after being taken into custody by U.S. and Czech troops, was unconscious when he was returned to Afghan forces the same day and died shortly afterwards.

U.S. and Czech troops were being investigated over the incident, it reported at the time.

The Czech army operated in Afghanistan from 2002 until 2021.

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has strongly condemned a deadly attack on a school bus in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, calling the violence against children and civilians “unjustifiable.”

In a statement shared on X, Islamic Emirate spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid expressed sympathy for the victims and rejected allegations that the attackers had links to Afghanistan.

“Pakistani authorities should not make baseless accusations against Afghanistan. The Islamic Emirate does not permit anyone to use Afghan soil to launch attacks on other countries,” he stated, emphasizing that there is no evidence to support such allegations.

The attack on army bus school, which took place in the Khuzdar district of Balochistan, claimed the lives of five people, including three children.

Pakistan’s military and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif swiftly condemned the violence and accused “Indian terror proxies” of involvement, although they did not share any evidence linking the attack to New Delhi.

India rejected Pakistan’s accusations.