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NATO Announces Support for Afghan Peace Offer to Taliban

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NATO has announced support for an offer by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to the Taliban to hold peace talks, describing it as an “unprecedented” opportunity to end fighting in Afghanistan.

The foreign ministers on Friday held a strategic discussion on Afghanistan, including the Afghan peace process, progress on the country’s reform agenda, and the regional context of the conflict.

On the sidelines of the alliance’s foreign minister meeting in Brussels, Gen. John Nicholson, the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan told Ariananews that they are hopeful over the continuation of dialogue between the Afghan government and Taliban group.

“It was interesting to know that the Taliban did not address President Ghani’s offer of peace. I think this means we are entering to a period of fighting and talking, and the Taliban are talking at many levels; unofficially, behind the scenes, to leaders in and out of the government and talking to many nations in the region. We are hopeful that this dialogue will continue even as we fight,” Nicholson said.

The top commander who is leading NATO forces in Afghanistan noted the Taliban insurgents are not able to collapse cities and districts anymore and the Afghan and international forces will destroy their financial sources in every part of the country.

Gen. Nicholson praised Afghan forces efforts in weakening the Daesh group’s activities in the country.

“We are now seeing deep disruption of ISIS elements in the north. Some of them have considered switching sides, as you probably know some of those fighters in the north were former Taliban joined ISIS and now are considering going back. So there is confusion being caused to ISIS in the north,” Gen. asserted.

The U.S. four-star general also stressed on reducing tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“We see strong pressure being put on Pakistan by the U.S. government. You saw the suspension of aid by President Trump at the beginning of the year. The statement issued by NATO foreign ministers called on Pakistan to support the peace process,” Gen Nicholson added.

“We are encouraged by the fact that Prime Minister Abbasi visited Afghanistan and met with President Ghani, so we hope that this level of dialogue and cooperation and pressure leads to the Taliban supporting the peace process or Pakistan supporting the peace process and it no longer supporting the Taliban.”

This comes as the Taliban group has recently announced the start of their annual spring offensive named “Al Khandaq” and dismissed President Ghani’s peace offer but pledged to focus on U.S. forces.

Reported by Sharif Hassanyar from Brussels

Edited by Zack Arya

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EU Parliament condemns governments that uphold IEA by normalizing relations

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The European Union Parliament on Thursday in an adopted resolution on the human rights situation in Afghanistan condemned the countries that uphold the Islamic Emirate by normalizing relations.

EU Parliament also criticized the new law of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice announced recently by the Islamic Emirate.

EU has also demanded new sanctions against the IEA.

The resolution stated: “MEPs want the EU to support the recognition of gender apartheid as a crime against humanity and call for Afghanistan’s de facto authorities to be held accountable, through the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation and the establishment of a UN Independent Investigative Mechanism.”

The resolution, however, urges the EU and donor states to increase humanitarian aid and funding to support basic needs, livelihoods and Afghan civil society.

The resolution was adopted by 565 votes in favor, 8 against and 43 abstentions.

In the meantime, IEA’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has said that the imposition of sanctions and pressure by some countries on the caretaker government has failed as in the past and the Afghan government wants positive interaction with all countries of the world.

“The European Union is experiencing the failed ways that they have already taken this path and have not gotten results,” said Mujahid.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan considers positive interaction as the only solution to all problems,” he added.

Earlier, the UN Security Council also expressed serious concern about the implementation of IEA's Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice law in a meeting regarding the situation in Afghanistan.

IEA, however, regarding the criticisms of the implementation of vice and virtue said that this law was compiled based on Islamic Sharia and considered opposing it as a contradiction with Islamic Sharia.

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IEA tells religious scholars to avoid talks on controversial topics

The statement said that “those scholars who incite disputes, promote superstitions, and use inappropriate words in the media” should not be invited to events.

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The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) on Friday called on scholars to avoid discussing controversial topics that cause agitation among the ordinary people.

A statement issued by the office of the Prime Minister states that scholars should avoid discussing “rare” issues that could cause misguidance among some and that ordinary people cannot understand.

The statement added that "some of the strange issues whose occurrence is not common should not be expressed in mosques and public gatherings, because the enemies of Islam make fun of such issues."

IEA also called on preachers and teachers to avoid publishing "specialized, complex and detailed academic and sufi topics in the media" because they are "special" and for "special audiences".

The statement said that "those scholars who incite disputes, promote superstitions, and use inappropriate words in the media" should not be invited to events.

“Islamic Emirate does not allow anyone to create discord, division, strife, and misguidance and it will take serious actions to prevent them,” the statement said.

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Pakistani minister calls for increased foreign aid for Afghan refugees

He emphasized the need for optimal utilization of resources to effectively achieve the objectives of the Commissionorate of Afghan Refugees.

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Pakistan's Minister for States and Frontier Regions, Kashmir Affairs, and Gilgit Baltistan, Amir Muqam, has called on the international community to increase funding and support for Afghan refugees.

Speaking at a meeting held at the office of the Commissioner of Afghan Refugees in Karachi, Muqam said that Afghan refugees' needs are growing and require substantial resources.

He emphasized the need for optimal utilization of resources to effectively achieve the objectives of the Commissionorate of Afghan Refugees.

“We look forward to continuing our collaboration to ensure the safety and dignity of refugees within our borders,” Muqam stated.

Pakistan hosts 1.45 million registered Afghan refugees.

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