The Islamic Emirate’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid says the construction of the Wakhan corridor road in Badakhshan has started and once complete will have a huge impact on Afghanistan’s economy.

The planned road will directly link Afghanistan with China through the narrow strip of land separating the two countries.

Mujahid said that the leadership of the IEA has taken important steps in the direction of developing the country’s economic relations and is trying to create different transit routes.

According to him, with the construction of this road, Afghanistan’s trade relations will expand.

“The area of the Wakhan road to the Chinese border is 60 km. Currently, the machinery of the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Public Works is there and they are being used,” he said.

Meanwhile, officials at the Chamber of Commerce and Investment have asked the IEA to complete the construction of the Wakhan road in Badakhshan as soon as possible so that Afghanistan no longer needs to depend on Pakistan’s transit routes for trade purposes.

“We request the elders of the Islamic Emirate to open the Wakhan port as soon as possible because our trade is 80 to 90 percent with China,” said a member of ACCI.

Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, Political Deputy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has said that the Afghan consulates in Mumbai and Hyderabad are in contact with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kabul, and the Afghan embassy in New Delhi will soon resume operations.

“Our consulates in Mumbai and Hyderabad are functioning and are in contact with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They provide consular services on a daily basis. Currently, our consuls in Mumbai and Hyderabad are present at the embassy in Delhi. I talked to them. They have reopened the embassy,” Stanikzai said in an interview with RTA that was broadcast on Tuesday night.

Stanikzai said that the Afghan embassy in India will resume its operations in the next two or three days.

Recently, the Afghan embassy in India announced its permanent closure, citing challenges from the Indian government.

Stanikzai in the interview also said that in his opinion, the Islamic Emirate has been recognized because it still has diplomatic relations with the countries it had in the past.

He said that there are currently about 20 embassies operating in Afghanistan.

Pakistani authorities have committed widespread abuses against Afghans to compel their return to Afghanistan, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday.

Police and other officials have carried out mass detentions, seized property and livestock, and destroyed identity documents to expel thousands of Afghan refugees and asylum seekers. Since mid-September 2023, Pakistani authorities have forced out more than 375,000 people to Afghanistan, deporting 20,000 of them, HRW said in a statement.

“Pakistani officials have created a coercive environment for Afghans to force them to return to life-threatening conditions in Afghanistan,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should immediately end the abuses and give Afghans facing expulsion the opportunity to seek protection in Pakistan.”

HRW said the mistreatment is part of a campaign to compel Afghans to leave the country. It includes night raids during which police have beaten, threatened and detained Afghans. Police have also demanded bribes and confiscated jewelry, livestock, and other property, and bulldozed homes.

Pakistani authorities have also reportedly required Afghans awaiting resettlement in the United States, United Kingdom, and other countries who have not been able to obtain or, in many cases, renew visas, to pay an exit fee of US$830, HRW said.

“Governments that promised to resettle at-risk Afghans should expedite these processes, while pressing Pakistan to live up to its human rights obligations,” Pearson said. “Countries should also step up their response to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, now compounded by the influx of hundreds of thousands of people in need at the onset of winter.”