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Stop corruption in Covid-19 fund: US Embassy
The US Embassy in Kabul has expressed concern over the “misappropriation” of the funds to battle the pandemic in Afghanistan.
The Embassy said in a statement: “Do you know that dozens of Afghan officials have been referred to the Attorney General’s Office for misappropriation of COVID-19 response funds.”
“This malfeasance costs Afghan citizens not just financially, but in delayed access to potentially life-saving medical care,” the Embassy tweeted.
The Embassy called on the Afghan officials to “Stop Corruption.”
#DYK that dozens of Afghan officials have been referred to the Attorney General’s Office for misappropriation of COVID-19 response funds. This malfeasance costs Afghan citizens not just financially, but in delayed access to potentially life-saving medical care. #StopCorruption pic.twitter.com/XsxW6QGcn5
— U.S. Embassy Kabul (@USEmbassyKabul) February 12, 2021
This comes as earlier this week, the Inspector General’s Office of Afghanistan said that more than 220 government officials are suspected of being involved in embezzling COVID-19 funds.
The office claims that 15 provincial governors are also among those suspected of corruption and embezzlement.
The Inspector-General Ghezal Haris said Sunday that cases involving the suspects have been referred to the Attorney General’s Office (AGO).
“We have sent 223 corruption cases of 16 provinces to the AGO,” he said adding that this involved officials from governor level down.
Meanwhile, the Afghan Supreme Audit Office (SAO) has found that high-ranking officials have also been involved in embezzling COVID-19 funds. These cases have also been referred to the AGO.
Mohammad Naeem Haqmal, Head of the SAO stated: “We have investigated cases of mayors and police chiefs and ministers including [the embezzlement Covid-19 funds] in the last one year, and 132 government officials have been referred to the Attorney General’s Office.”
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Iran, Pakistan leaders raise concerns over ‘terrorist groups’ in Afghanistan
Following a two-day official visit to Pakistan, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif issued a joint statement emphasizing the need to further expand commercial and economic cooperation and transform the common border of the two countries from a “border of peace” to “border of prosperity”.
The two leaders also strongly condemned aggressions and crimes of Israel in Gaza, and demanded an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, as well as unimpeded humanitarian access to the besieged people of Gaza.
Numerous other issues were also discussed but on the topic of Afghanistan, they jointly declared their commitment to the development of Afghanistan as a peaceful, united, independent country free from the threats of terrorism and drug trafficking.
According to the statement the two countries pointed out that the existence of terrorist organizations in Afghanistan is a serious threat to the security of the region and the world.
The two sides stressed their desire to strengthen cooperation in the field of fighting terrorism and ensuring security and creating a united front against terrorism.
They also discussed the importance of coordinating regional and international efforts to ensure security and stability in the region.
“While respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Afghanistan, the two sides recognized that increasing participation of all strata of Afghans in basic decision-making will lead to the strengthening of peace and stability in this country,” the statement read.
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Over 1,000 Afghan refugees forced out of Pakistan in one day
The Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations (MoRR) says over 1,000 Afghan migrants were forcibly returned from Pakistan on Tuesday through Spin Boldak border crossing in Kandahar province, the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry stated that based on information provided by the Spin Boldak Kandahar border command, these returnees comprised 191 families, totalling 998 people.
In addition, three migrants released from Pakistani prisons were also returned, according to the statement.
The statement added that after registering the returnees, the refugees were referred to the offices of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the World Food Program (WFP) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Each family received 10,000 afghanis – paid to them by the Islamic Emirate.
In another statement, the ministry said that 2,783 migrants living in Iran voluntarily and forcibly returned to the country during this week.
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Afghanistan’s minister of transport and aviation attends regional meeting in Uzbekistan
Hamidullah Akhundzadeh, acting Minister of Transport and Aviation, headed a delegation to Uzbekistan for a ‘Six-Party Corridor’ meeting that included representatives from Afghanistan, Russia, Belarus, Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
On the sidelines of this meeting the Afghanistan delegation discussed trade through the corridor with the other five relevant countries.
According to the ministry of transport and aviation, Akhundzadeh met with the deputy ministers of transport of Russia and Belarus.
He also discussed ways to expand transit between Afghanistan and Russia; and Afghanistan and Belarus, and provide the necessary facilities to achieve this.
The ministry added that the acting minister had a bilateral meeting with the Minister of Transport and the Special Representative of the President of Uzbekistan on Afghanistan and discussed the expansion of road transport between the two countries.
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