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Lavrov calls on Taliban to reduce violence and stop making new demands
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has reaffirmed Moscow’s position of principle on the restoration of peace in Afghanistan and urged the Taliban to stop making demands at the negotiating tables.
Addressing a joint press conference with Afghan Foreign Minister Hanif Atmar on Friday, Lavrov stated that Russia is ready to cooperate with the United States, China, Pakistan, India, Iran, and Central Asian countries for the restoration of peace in the country.
“We will continue our contacts with the key external players, which include the United States, China, Pakistan, India, Iran, and the Central Asian countries. These contacts should help ensure the success of direct and inclusive intra-Afghan talks,” Lavrov said.
“This is the only way to go,” he stressed.
Lavrov has reaffirmed the importance of the US-Taliban agreement signed in Doha in February 2020 and approved by a UN Security Council resolution.
He also called on the Taliban to reduce violence and avoid making new demands during the negotiating process.
“The ‘message’ to the Taliban is not a secret. It’s about the need to avoid escalation on the ground, to respect the already agreed-upon terms and conditions for holding direct intra-Afghan talks, and not to put forward any new preliminary requirements, which is mandatory for both parties participating in the negotiating process,” Lavrov said.
“All parties, including the Taliban, must respect the UN Security Council resolutions,” he said.
Sadai Banowan, a women-run radio station in Badakhshan province has been shut down for playing music during the holy months of Ramazan.
Moezuddin Ahmadi, the director for information and culture in Badakhshan province, told the UK’s Guardian that the station had violated the “laws and regulations of the Islamic emirate” several times by broadcasting songs and music during Ramazan and was shuttered because of the breach.
“If this radio station accepts the policy of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and gives a guarantee that it will not repeat such a thing again, we will allow it to operate again,” said Ahmadi.
Station head Najia Sorosh denied there was any violation, saying there was no need for the closure and called it a conspiracy, the Guardian reported. The Taliban “told us that you have broadcast music. We have not broadcast any kind of music,” she said.
The Islamic Emirate’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid says Daesh has been destroyed by the security forces in the country and is not as big a threat as it was a year ago.
In a recent interview with Voice of America, Pashto, Mujahid said that the Afghan security forces “since August 2021, have arrested and imprisoned around 1,600 to 1,700 Daesh militants and have killed more than 1,100.”
The remarks came as the IEA usually downplays the presence and the threat of Daesh militants in Afghanistan.
Mujahid said Daesh hideouts had been destroyed across the country, including in Zabul, Kunar and Jawzjan provinces, and that Daesh fighters were mostly supported by the previous government. Some of them escaped from the prisons during the regime change.
However, he added that the Afghan security forces either killed, arrested, or imprisoned them.
Daesh has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks in the past few months including one last month close to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which left six people dead and dozens wounded.
The Ministry of Interior says the special forces from the ministry and the 209th Army Corps of Al-Fatah carried out an operation and rescued a businessman who was kidnapped a month ago in Balkh, Mazar-e-Sharif city.
The ministry said on Twitter the trader was abducted in the first district of Mazar-e-Sharif city by kidnappers and a ransom of $300,000 was demanded for his release.
Two of the kidnappers were arrested in this operation, the officials said.
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