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Security Council condemns IEA ban on Afghan women working for UN

The U.N. Security Council unanimously condemned on Thursday an Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) administration ban on Afghan women working for the United Nations in Afghanistan and called on IEA leaders to “swiftly reverse” a crackdown on the rights of women and girls, Reuters reported.
The resolution – drafted by the United Arab Emirates and Japan – describes the ban as “unprecedented in the history of the United Nations,” asserts “the indispensable role of women in Afghan society” and says the ban on Afghan women working for the U.N. “undermines human rights and humanitarian principles.”
UAE U.N. Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh said more than 90 countries co-sponsored the resolution “from Afghanistan’s immediate neighbourhood, from the Muslim world and from all corners of the earth.”
“This … support makes our fundamental message today even more significant – the world will not sit by silently as women in Afghanistan are erased from society,” she told the council.
The Security Council vote came days before a planned international meeting in Doha on May 1-2 on Afghanistan. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will convene behind closed doors special envoys on Afghanistan from various countries to work on a unified approach to dealing with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
“We will not stand for the Taliban’s repression of women and girls,” Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Robert Wood, told the council. “These decisions are indefensible. They are not seen anywhere else in the world.”
“The Taliban [IEA] edicts are causing irreparable damage to Afghanistan.”
Earlier this month the IEA began enforcing the ban on Afghan women working for the U.N. after stopping most women working for humanitarian aid groups in December. Since toppling the Western-backed government in 2021, they have also tightened controls on women’s access to public life, including barring women from university and closing girls’ high schools.
The IEA says it respects women’s rights in accordance with its strict interpretation of Islamic law. IEA officials said decisions on female aid workers are an “internal issue.”
The Security Council resolution also recognizes the need to address substantial challenges facing Afghanistan’s economy, including through using assets belonging to Afghanistan’s Central Bank for the benefit of the Afghan people, Reuters reported.
The United States froze billions of the bank’s reserves held in the U.S. and later transferred half of the money to a trust fund in Switzerland overseen by U.S., Swiss and Afghan trustees.
“As of today, what we have seen is only that assets have been transferred from one account to another, but not a single penny returned to the Afghan people,” China’s Deputy U.N. Ambassador Geng Shuang told the council.
Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia also called for the return of the Afghan Central Bank assets.
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Pakistan delivered ‘strong and clear message’ to IEA: PM Shehbaz Sharif

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday once again raised concerns that militant activities continue to emanate from the Afghan territory.
“It is our earnest desire to live in peace with them (Afghanistan) for all times to come. Unfortunately, despite our best and sincere efforts, terrorist activities continue to emanate from Afghan territory,” he said during said at a military academy.
Recalling Deputy PM Ishaq Dar’s recent visit to Kabul, Shehbaz Sharif asserted: “We shall continue our efforts to have better relations and understanding with our brotherly and neighbourly country Afghanistan.
He said that Pakistan has “delivered a strong and clear message” to the Islamic Emirate that while it desire peaceful neighbourly relations with Kabul, this cannot happen as long as the Afghan soil is being used by militants to attack Pakistanis.
Pakistani officials have repeatedly claimed that the attacks in the country have their roots in Afghanistan. The Islamic Emirate, however, has denied the allegations, stressing that it will not allow Afghanistan’s territory to be used against the security of other countries.
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U.S. aid cuts are impacting millions of Afghans: IRC

For 23 million Afghans, U.S. aid funding has been a critical lifeline, but that support is now in jeopardy, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) aid organization said on Friday.
Funding cuts are already having devastating impacts on the country’s most vulnerable communities, especially women and children, IRC said in an article.
IRC said that due to cuts in U.S, aid funding, it has been forced to suspend some of our life-saving services in Afghanistan.
“As a result, over 700,000 people, including refugees and displaced families, will lose access to essential humanitarian services from IRC programming alone,” IRC said, “Life-saving treatment for more than 15,000 young children suffering from malnutrition has been disrupted.”
The organization noted that Afghanistan is facing a severe humanitarian crisis, with over 22.9 million people in urgent need of aid.
“Decades of conflict, a prolonged economic crisis, and environmental disasters have pushed millions into poverty and left more than one in three Afghans food insecure,” it said.
IRC said that the situation is especially dire for vulnerable groups, including over 3 million children and 1.2 million pregnant or nursing mothers suffering from acute malnutrition.
Across the country, more than 14 million people have limited or no access to health care. Communities are losing access to clean drinking water and basic sanitation services, creating a higher risk of disease outbreaks that could potentially spread across international borders, it said.
IRC warned that without renewed funding, countless families risk falling deeper into hunger, illness and poverty.
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IEA’s condemnation of Kashmir attack ‘encouraging’: Khalilzad

Former US special envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, said on Friday that the Islamic Emirate’s condemnation of the attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir was an “encouraging development”.
“In an encouraging development, the Taliban (IEA) have sided with the tourist victims in Kashmir and have denounced this terror attack,” Khalilzad said on X.
Twenty-six people were killed in a shooting in a tourist area in Pahalgam, Kashmir, on Tuesday.
The attack has escalated tensions between India and Pakistan, with the two countries taking measures against each other.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan condemned the attack and said that such incidents threaten the security and stability of the region.
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