A top delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar Akhund met with the visiting delegation headed by Uzbekistan’s National Security Council Adviser and the special envoy for Afghanistan Abdul Aziz Kamlov in Kabul to discuss numerous issues including the supply of electricity.

Both delegations discussed political, economic, commercial, transit, railway, and electricity projects in Afghanistan, according to a statement received by Bakhtar News Agency.

“We had good political and economic relations with Uzbekistan and this country is making efforts to further develop these relations,” said Deputy PM Baradar, during the meeting.

He termed Afghanistan as a bridge between South and Central Asian countries, and said that “our country could play an important role in trade and transit between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.”

He also said the two countries could become two effective economic partners in the region, by using available opportunities.

For his part, Kamlov said its country has supported Afghanistan in international forums and meetings and has strived to protect Afghanistan’s interests in any condition.

Kamlov said that Uzbekistan is ready to cooperate with the Islamic Emirate to get the maximum advantage from the Qosh Tepa Canal.

For his part, Deputy PM Baradar assured the Uzbek side that Qosh Tepa Canal will strengthen bilateral relations between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan and bring these two neighboring countries closer.

The Islamic Emirate is ready to carry out this vital project through mutual understanding, he said.

Meanwhile the delegation met with IEA’s defense minister Mawlawi Mohammad Yaqoub Mujahid and discussed a number of issues. According to the defense ministry, border issues, security and other related matters were discussed and emphasis was placed on strengthening bilateral relations.

Also, Abdulaziz Kamelov, the special representative of Uzbekistan, assured the IEA of their intentions to strengthen relations with Afghanistan in the fields of security, economy, politics and other issues.

Local health officials in Faryab Province have confirmed a local woman has given birth to healthy quadruplets.

Dr. Satar Salimi, from the 20-bed Gynecology Hospital in Faryab said the mother, named Maryam, was from Ghormach district and gave birth to three boys and a girl on Tuesday night.

Doctors have said the mother and the babies are all doing well.

Last month, another woman in the province gave birth to quadruplets.

The United Nations has renewed its call for Afghanistan’s Taliban to immediately reopen schools to teenage girls, saying the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has no justification for denying the right to education on any grounds, including religion or tradition.

“The ongoing unlawful denial of girls and young women’s right to education in Afghanistan marks a global nadir in education, impacting an entire gender, a generation, and the future of the country,” a U.N. panel of experts said this week.

There is no indication the Taliban intend to lift the ban on female education as secondary schools across the South Asian nation reopen later this week after winter break, the statement read.

“Instead, it appears that for the second successive school year, teenage girls will be banned from resuming their studies,” the U.N. panel said, adding that Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls and young women are barred from receiving an education.

Separately, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, while launching the 2022 Human Rights Report on Monday, renewed Washington’s denunciation of curbs on Afghan women’s access to education and work, VOA reported.

Blinken said the IEA leadership “relentlessly discriminates and represses” Afghan women. He noted the authorities have so far issued 80 decrees that restrict women’s freedom of movement and the right to education and work.

“I’ll say very simply that we deplore the edicts,” Blinken told reporters.

He said the order banning Afghan female employees of nongovernmental organizations from workplaces “imperils” millions of Afghans who depend on humanitarian assistance for survival.