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Neighbors at China meeting call for inclusive political structure in Afghanistan
Neighboring countries noted the importance to achieve national reconciliation in Afghanistan through dialogue and negotiation and to establish a broad-based and inclusive political structure during their meeting in China on Thursday.
The third Foreign Ministers’ Meeting among the Neighboring Countries of Afghanistan was held in Tunxi, Anhui province in China. Foreign ministers or senior representatives of seven countries, namely China, Iran, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, attended the meeting.
They noted the importance of taking necessary continuing steps in Afghanistan on ensuring women’s rights and children’s education, among others, and called for further actions to be taken to improve people’s livelihoods, and safeguard the fundamental rights of all Afghans, including ethnic groups, women and children, according to a joint statement.
Participants also reaffirmed opposition to attempts at politicizing humanitarian assistance, and reiterated respect and support for the central role of Afghanistan in distributing and using humanitarian assistance to be rendered by the international community and international organizations to the people of Afghanistan.
On the same day, China also hosted a separate meeting focused on supporting Afghanistan’s economic reconstruction and practical cooperation, called the Tunxi Initiative.
“The Tunxi Initiative is rich in content and will play an important role in promoting Afghanistan’s peace, reconstruction, stability and development in the future,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at a press conference.
“The initiative embodies five features: First, not playing geopolitical games, but focusing on practical cooperation. Second, not imposing one’s will on others, but advocating equality and voluntariness. Third, not making high-profile empty promises, but pursuing tangible results. Fourth, not acting without coordination, but striving for regional connectivity. Fifth, not seeking isolation and antagonism, but advocating openness and inclusiveness,” Wang said.
All parties at the meeting decided to provide further humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, and called on the international community to give more support to Afghanistan, to help it restore cash liquidity and avoid humanitarian disaster.
Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Islamic Emirate’s Foreign Minister, met with Gholamreza Nouri Ghezeljeh, Iran’s Minister of Agriculture Jihad, in Kabul on Thursday.
Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry said the two sides held comprehensive discussions on bilateral relations, expanding economic and transit cooperation, and holding the seventh meeting of the Joint Economic Commission between the two countries.
Muttaqi welcomed the progress in practical economic and transit cooperation between Afghanistan and Iran, saying there are further opportunities to expand bilateral ties.
Iran’s agriculture minister also stressed the importance of making use of existing opportunities for cooperation in various sectors and called for expanding current areas of cooperation.
Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) has unveiled a new visa card and HesabPay mobile application as part of efforts to expand digital financial services in Afghanistan.
The new products were introduced at an event in Kabul on Thursday, where Ahmad Shahpoor Mia Khail, the bank’s deputy governor for supervision, urged Afghans to use digital cards for payments and cash withdrawals.
Mia Khail said improving public trust and providing better financial services remain among the bank’s priorities, describing the digitization of the financial system as a key step toward electronic transactions.
“Our sole objective is to enable every Afghan to make payments using a card, mobile phone or other means,” he said.
Officials from several companies said around one million active customers in Afghanistan currently use HesabPay services, adding that they are committed to expanding access to financial services.
Ahmad Khalid Wadan, the owner of one of the companies, said the initiative aims to help build “a strong, secure and reliable digital financial system” in Afghanistan.
Da Afghanistan Bank has repeatedly called for the digitization of monetary and commercial transactions, saying it can improve transparency and efficiency and help expand economic activity.
Human Rights Watch in a statement on Wednesday called for the release of two UN staffers and six NGO workers in Afghanistan.
HRW said that six male staff working with the Women and Children Legal Research Foundation (WCLRF) had been “forcibly disappeared” from the NGO’s Kabul office last month. The NGO has been involved in aid programmes and advocacy on women’s and children’s rights, HRW said.
In a separate incident, Human Rights Watch also called for the release of two Afghan staff members of the UN’s Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), who were detained by IEA officials in the western city of Herat on Sunday.
The IEA’s spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, told Reuters that he was “trying to gather details” about the recent detentions, but had “not received final clarity.”
The UN confirmed the detention of two of its staffers earlier this week. “UNAMA has not been informed of the charges against them and has not been permitted to visit them,” Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, said in a briefing on Wednesday.
Fereshta Abbasi, Afghanistan Researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement that the detentions of UNAMA staff threatened the UN’s “ability to deliver lifesaving aid.”
As the UN’s political mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA is involved in human rights monitoring and data gathering. Its reports have frequently been criticised by the IEA government in the past.
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