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Pakistan urges Taliban to stay engaged in Afghan peace process
Pakistan on Monday urged the Taliban to remain engaged in the Afghan peace process after the armed group said it would now shun summits about Afghanistan until all foreign forces had left.
The decision was taken after the United States said last week it would withdraw all troops by Sept. 11 this year, later than a May 1 deadline set out by the previous administration.
“They take their own decisions but we will do whatever we can to convince them that it is in their national interest to remain engaged,” Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said of the Taliban in an interview with Reuters in Abu Dhabi.
The refusal has thrown the peace process into disarray with Turkey scheduled to host a summit this Saturday, which diplomats had hoped would create new momentum towards a political settlement between the Taliban and Afghan government.
The Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 when they were ousted by U.S.-led forces, but they still control wide areas.
Qureshi said delays to the withdrawal were always a possibility due to logistics but that the Taliban had largely succeeded in their objective for foreign troops to withdraw and so should show flexibility towards the new Sept. 11 deadline.
“The troops will be out and a date has been given and the process starts on the 1st of May and goes on until the 11th of September so there is a definite time frame,” Qureshi said.
He also said he had no contact with the Taliban but that he believed the insurgent group would benefit by remaining engaged in the process, suggesting that they show patience and perseverance.
Pakistan, which helped facilitate U.S.-Taliban negotiations in Doha that resulted in the initial May 1 withdrawal deal, wields considerable influence with the Taliban.
The insurgents have sanctuaries in Pakistan, whose main military-run intelligence service gives them support, according to U.S. and Afghan officials. Pakistan denies the allegation.
Qureshi said he fears violence could escalate if the peace process remains deadlocked, plunging Afghanistan into civil war and leading to an exodus of Afghans.
Pakistan, which hosts close to 3 million Afghan refugees and economic migrants, has built 90% of a fence along its disputed 2,500 km (1,500 mile) border with Afghanistan and would hopefully be completed by September, he said.
He also said Pakistan was ready to engage in direct dialogue with arch-rival India once Jammu and Kashmir statehood was restored, which New Delhi in 2019 split into territories.
“We are two atomic powers that cannot, should not go into a direct conflict. It would be suicidal,” Qureshi said.
But he said he had no plans to meet with his Indian counterpart is also in the United Arab Emirates this week.
Top intelligence officers from India and Pakistan held secret talks in Dubai in January in a new effort to calm military tension over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, sources have told Reuters
The European Union announced Tuesday it has made available 400,000 euros (over 30 million afghani) in response to widespread flooding in the north of Afghanistan in the past few weeks.
This humanitarian aid will provide immediate emergency assistance to beneficiaries in the regions of Baghlan, Badakhshan, and Takhar, the EU said in a statement.
The assistance will be delivered by EU humanitarian partners ACTED and DACAAR. It will include an emergency multi-sectoral response through cash assistance as well as access to clean water, emergency sanitation and hygiene supplies, the statement read.
The EU mentioned that it has been funding humanitarian operations in Afghanistan since 1994, providing close to 1.8 billion euros ($1.9 billion) in funding.
Last year alone, the EU mobilised 159 million euros ($172 million) in humanitarian funding.
In addition, since 2021 the EU has organised a Humanitarian Air Bridge to Afghanistan, with 35 flights so far that have carried over 1,600 tonnes of aid.
Turkish Airlines will resume its flights to Afghanistan tomorrow (Tuesday), officials said on Monday.
The Ministry of Transport said that a Turkish Airlines plane will land in Kabul airport on Tuesday.
“Tomorrow, Turkish Airlines will resume its flights to Kabul International Airport. There will be four flights between Kabul and Istanbul per week. This is good news for Afghan travelers. For those Afghans who travel to European countries, they can move easily through Turkey,” said Imamuddin Ahmadi, the spokesman of the Ministry of Transport.
However, the Chamber of Commerce and Investment emphasized that visas should be provided to businessmen and citizens of the country, otherwise companies will benefit the most, not Afghan citizens and businessmen.
“Not a single passenger is allowed, the reason is that they do not issue visas. If the Turks don’t start issuing visas, or the Arabs don’t issue visas, the plane will come for the cargo and there will be little movement of people,” said Khanjan Alokozay, a member of the Chamber of Commerce and Investment.
In a meeting with Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, the Deputy Prime Minister said the Islamic Emirate will participate in the third Doha meeting if its “position” is accepted.
He said that Afghanistan is under the complete control of the Islamic Emirate and that the country “has an Emir” and the government is “obeyed”.
According to a statement issued by Mawlavi Abdul Kabir’s office, the deputy prime minister told DiCarlo: “The previous meeting in Doha was incomplete due to some shortcomings of its organizers, and the position of the Islamic Emirate should be accepted in the next meeting so that the delegation of the Islamic Emirate will participate in it.”
The Secretary General of the United Nations once expressed regret for the Islamic Emirate’s non-participation in the Doha meeting, but at the same time said that accepting the demands of the Islamic Emirate is equivalent to its recognition.
Meanwhile, the Islamic Emirate is asking the United Nations and other countries to recognize them as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.
Kabir said that the Islamic Emirate has fulfilled all its obligations and “rules over the entire geography of Afghanistan… There is a central government in all of Afghanistan that has an emir and is obeyed.”
The United Nations is expected to hold the third Doha meeting with the participation of special representatives of countries for Afghanistan, but it has not set a date for it yet.
The Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs of the United Nations meanwhile visited Kabul this week and invited the Islamic Emirate’s officials to participate in the Doha meeting.
According to the deputy prime minister’s office, DiCarlo informed Kabir about the Doha meeting and said that “the Islamic Emirate’s conditions for participating in this meeting are not difficult.”
She expressed hope that a delegation of the Islamic Emirate will participate.
She said that representatives of a number of international organizations and countries have been invited to the Doha meeting, including the World Bank.
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