Uzbekistan railway officials in Termez city say they have reduced the cost of Uzbekistan-Hairatan rail transport tariffs by 50 percent.

Goods from China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and other countries enter Afghanistan via this route.

Uzbek railway officials have said in order to facilitate and expand trade relations between the two countries and to support Afghan businessmen, they have reduced the tariffs by 50 percent.

Previously, specific tariffs were charged for the shipments coming from the Afghan government. For example, goods brought in over Friendship Bridge were charged $200 for a 40-ton wagon and $100 for a 20-ton wagon. Similarly, different amounts had to be paid at customs based on different services, but now all payments up to $500 have been waived until the end of the year, said Farhad, head of Termez railway.

Meanwhile, Afghan traders in Balkh welcomed Uzbekistan’s initiative and the creation of facilities in the rail transport sector, but have urged the Islamic Emirate to create more facilities.

Balkh railway officials also said that to increase transfers, they need better facilities so as to ensure a smooth transfer of goods.

The efforts to start practical work on the Afghan-Trans railway line are also underway; this line will start in Uzbekistan and end in Pakistan.

The Turkish Presidency announced Wednesday that the diplomatic visa exemption agreement between Turkey and Afghanistan has been revoked.

According to a statement published by the Turkish Presidency, this decision signed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, will be implemented starting from June 1st.

The decree signed by the Turkish president states: “The agreement between the Republic of Turkey and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan on the mutual exemption from visa obligations for holders of diplomatic passports, signed on September 29, 2007, and implemented by the Council of Ministers’ decision on January 8, 2008, will be terminated as of June 1.”

With the revocation of this agreement, Turkish and Islamic Emirate officials will now have to undergo the visa application process for mutual entry into Afghanistan and Turkey.

Turkey made this decision based on Article 3 of Presidential Decree No. 9, which outlines the President’s authority regarding the approval of international agreements.

White House spokesman John Kirby defended Israel amid international outrage after an airstrike reportedly killed dozens of civilians in the Gaza Strip — saying the US military “did the same thing.”

“We have conducted airstrikes in places like Iraq and Afghanistan where, tragically, we caused civilian casualties,” he said — adding that the US responded the same way as Israel in the aftermath.

“We owned up to it, we investigated it, and we tried to learn from it to make changes,” Kirby said at Tuesday’s regular White House briefing.

US bombings that killed civilians included “as we pulled out of Afghanistan, where we conducted an airstrike which tragically killed a father and some of his kids,” he said.

“We atoned for it, we learned from it, and we put in place procedures to try to prevent that from happening again, and that’s what our expectations would be in this case.”

Kirby’s comments came after Israel reportedly killed over 40 displaced Palestinians on Sunday in an airstrike.

He said that two senior Hamas leaders had also been killed in the bombing.

“Hamas itself put out a statement celebrating the martyrdom of two of its fighters… So I don’t know how anybody could dispute that they weren’t trying to go after Hamas in a targeted, precise way in this regard,” he said.

“The Israelis have said they used 37-pound bombs, precision guided munitions. A 37-pound bomb is not a big bomb, and it is exactly the kind of munition…

“If, in fact, that’s what they used, it is certainly indicative of an effort to be discrete, targeted and precise,” he said.

“Now, obviously this had tragic results, and obviously that needs to be investigated, and we need to know why even using small-diameter, precision guided munitions this was able to happen, But we’ll have to let the Israelis get to the bottom of that.”