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Key actors vow to speed up intra-Afghan talks
The United States, Russia, China, and Pakistan have vowed to speed up the Intra-Afghan Talks process.
The new envoys and representatives of the United States, Russia, China, and Pakistan, spoke at a video conference on speeding up the release of Afghan and Taliban prisoners and voting to begin negotiations between the government and the Taliban as soon as possible.
Russia’s special envoy to Afghanistan has said that initial steps had been taken to start direct talks.
“The main result is we will do our utmost together to speed up the exchange of prisoners of war between Kabul and the Taliban and to promote intra-Afghan talks,” the Russian special envoy in Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov said.
He added, “The exchange process is on. It is slower than we would like it to be, but it is continuing and now the need has emerged to hold a preliminary discussion of further steps.”
The Presidential Spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said, “Considerable reduction in violence or ceasefire will lead us to take further steps to start direct talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government. We hope the Taliban enter a new phase.”
The European Union, the British Embassy, and some other European representatives in Kabul have also issued a joint statement urging the government and the Taliban to grant a constructive role for women throughout the peace process.
The statement also stressed the need for the government to announce the time for the Intra-Afghan talks as soon as possible.
Ghulam Farooq Majrooh, a member of the government’s negotiating team, said: “The negotiating team is fully prepared to start negotiations. It is up to the leaders to determine the time and place, and we will be ready to negotiate whenever they say.”
Earlier, sources said that the first round of talks between the Afghans is scheduled to take place on June 15, 11 days later, but sources close to the Taliban have said that talks would not begin unless all 5,000 Taliban prisoners are released.
“The Taliban’s stance so far is that Intra-Afghan talks will begin after the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners, according to the list,” said Khalil Safi, head of the Afghan Institute for Peace Studies.
The National Security Council said in a statement that the government had released 2,710 Taliban prisoners and that the list of prisoners released by the Taliban was under investigation.
Since then, there have been no further releases by either side – progress in the matter will spark the beginning of negotiations.
Officials confirm that hundreds of people have been killed and injured after floods in Baghlan, Badakhshan, Ghor and Herat provinces of Afghanistan.
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) in a statement said that a large number of houses have been destroyed and people have suffered huge financial losses.
In the statement, the Ministry of State for Disaster Management, the Ministry of Interior Affairs, and the provincial authorities have been directed to use all their resources to save people, recover the bodies, and treat the injured.
The Islamic Emirate called on the citizens to assist the flood victims.
In Baghlan, Ziauddin, director of Baghlan-i-Markazi district hospital, said that 52 bodies, including 13 women and 13 children, have been taken to the hospital from the floods on Friday night. He added that 73 injured people have also been admitted.
In Takhar, Ahmad Siyar Sajid, the head of natural disasters management of the province, said that eight people died in Ishkemesh, Chal and Namak Ab districts of this province.
Hedayatullah Hamdard, head of the Natural Disaster Department in Baghlan, says at least 50 were killed on Friday afternoon due to floods in several districts of the province.
Hamdard added the figure is not total and that the death toll may increase.
Over the past two days, floods have also caused huge financial losses in Chaharsada and Murghab districts of Ghor province and two people including a child and an old man have disappeared.
Hundreds of acres of agricultural land were destroyed in Chaharsada district and about 50 livestock were also lost.
According to local officials in Ghor, around 50 residential houses in Chaharsada district are under floods.
Iranian officials say work is intensely underway on the implementation of plan to block the country’s eastern border with Afghanistan.
According to Iranian media, the commander of the Ground Forces of Iran spoke on Thursday at a ceremony in the city of Mashhad about the sealing of the country’s borders with Afghanistan.
Kioumars Heydari added: “According to the measures contemplated by the Islamic Republic, we are in the process of sealing the borders.”
He did not specify the exact timing for the completion of the border sealing plan between Iran and Afghanistan, but added: “Our estimate is that the sealing of the eastern border of the country will be completed as soon as possible.”
Afghanistan and Iran share more than 900 kilometers of common border.
Experts, meanwhile, believe that this will cause a change in dealings with Afghan immigrants.
The Islamic Emirate, however, says fencing on the borders of Iran and Afghanistan will proceed in coordination with the Afghan government.
According to experts, Iran is seeking to solve its security concerns and will spend a lot of money in the process of blocking the border but this border wall will be finished for the benefit of both countries, and drug trafficking and movement of terrorist groups will be at least under control.
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