Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) on Sunday signed a new grant agreement worth 1.474 billion (approximately $9.4 million) to help Afghan communities better prepare for climate-related challenges.

The agreement was signed by Katy Ann Webley, UNOPS Afghanistan Country Director, and Sota Tosaka, JICA Afghanistan Chief Representative.

The project will be carried out in Kabul province and aims to strengthen the ability of local communities to deal with disasters caused by climate change. Through a community-led approach, the program will support the construction of facilities that can reduce the damage from floods, droughts, and other climate-related risks. It will also include training sessions to raise awareness and build skills so that residents know how to respond during emergencies.

Over the next 24 months, UNOPS will implement activities that help communities understand climate risks, improve preparedness, and protect their livelihoods.

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari has warned that the presence of militant groups in the region poses risks to global peace, and repeated Islamabad’s concerns regarding what it describes as the activities of “terrorist organisations operating from Afghanistan.”

Zardari made the remarks in a statement issued Sunday, as he thanked world leaders for expressing solidarity with Pakistan following the recent attack on an imambargah in Islamabad, which left dozens dead and many others wounded. The incident was claimed by Daesh militant group.

According to the statement from the President’s Secretariat, Zardari said Pakistan remains committed to combating terrorism and stressed that no single country can address the threat alone.

“Pakistan has long maintained that terrorism cannot be confronted by a single country in isolation,” he was quoted as saying.

Citing Pakistan’s experience, he said in the statement that whenever “terrorist groups are allowed space, facilitation or impunity beyond national borders, the consequences are borne by innocent civilians all over the world.”

Zardari further claimed that the situation in Afghanistan under the Islamic Emirate authorities has created conditions “similar to or worse than pre-9/11,” and said this has influenced security developments across the region. IEA has repeatedly rejected such allegations, insisting that Afghan soil is not used against any country.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the leader of Pakistan’s Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F), has said that Afghanistan’s economic situation has become better than Pakistan’s, as Pakistan faces deepening financial hardship and increasing emigration.

Speaking at a gathering in Rawalpindi, Fazlur Rehman warned that business activity in Pakistan is collapsing and that many Pakistanis are leaving the country in search of stability. He sharply criticized Islamabad’s policies toward Afghanistan, describing them as “complete failures.”

Addressing Pakistan’s repeated claims that militants enter from Afghan territory, he said: “Authorities say terrorists are coming from there. If they are coming, stop them. If they are coming, eliminate them. The Afghan government has never objected to your actions.”

He also rejected the logic behind these allegations, pointing to the closure of key crossings between the two countries: “When not even a single pomegranate can enter Pakistan from Afghanistan today, how can militants enter?”

Fazlur Rehman argued that Pakistan’s foreign policy is shaped not by the civilian government, but by the military establishment: “One general comes and says we will negotiate; another comes and says we will wage war.”

Pakistani officials have long claimed that attacks inside Pakistan are planned from Afghan soil. The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has consistently denied this, saying Afghanistan cannot be blamed for Pakistan’s internal security failures.