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Ulema Council established over Takhar provincial government
According to the order of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), the Ulema Council in Takhar province started work on Sunday.
This council is made up of fifteen religious scholars and five elders of the province and its chairman, who have direct contact with the IEA’s Supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada.
The council has the right to oversee the functioning of the local government and also advise officials on how to improve governance.
During his visit to Takhar, the Deputy Minister of Interior Mawlavi Noor Jalal Jalali announced that Mawlavi Mohammad Murad is the chairman of the council and that Mawlavi Hayatullah is the deputy chair of the new Council of Religious Scholars in the province.
According to him, this council was formed by the order of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Emirate.
"The Ulema Council is higher than the Provincial Council of the Republic regime. The Provincial Council was not so competent in cases. The chairman of this council has direct contact with the supreme leader," he said.
The leadership of the council said that they will focus on strengthening good governance and improve the people's relations with government, as well as monitor the actions of the local government.
"This is a heavy burden and responsibility, and it is too heavy to handle such a task that a successful person can do," said Mawlavi Mohammad Murad, head of the Ulema Council.
"Whatever incident the nation complains about, we will report it to the government or any incident that takes place in the administration, and if clients and people complain, we will immediately share it with the governor of the province and work according to the duties submitted by the Supreme leader," said Makhdoom Hayatullah Raiq, deputy head of the Ulema Council.
The Ulema Council is to be established in all provinces of the country and the councils will also be tasked to handle legal disputes.
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Riyadh committed to expanding bilateral relations with Kabul: Saudi ambassador
Faisal bin Talq al-Buqami, the Saudi Ambassador to Kabul, on Wednesday met with acting Minister of Defense Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid and emphasized Riyadh's commitment to expanding economic, political, and humanitarian cooperation with Afghanistan.
Enayatullah Khwarizm, the spokesman for the Ministry of Defense said in a statement that Mujahid described Afghanistan’s relationship with Saudi Arabia as culturally and ideologically shared and inseparable, and expressed appreciation for Riyadh's cooperation in various fields.
According to the statement, Mujahid called the resumption of the Saudi Embassy's activities in Kabul important and significant.
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Stanikzai says media is an essential part of society
Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, the political deputy foreign minister, says media is an essential need in society.
Speaking at a seminar aimed at improving the capacity of spokespersons from ministries and independent government institutions, Stanikzai emphasized the importance of access to information and the vital role of media in Afghanistan.
"In today's age, media and spokespersons are a significant need for society and the country, and this sector must be strengthened. Spokespersons must be strong and able to withstand any situation. In order to cope with the circumstances, they should strive to have comprehensive information not only about their work environment but also about the country and society,” he said.
Khabib Ghafran, spokesperson for the Ministry of Information and Culture, also addressed the seminar and said: "The main goal of this seminar is to discuss how to improve the capacity of spokespersons in central departments of the Islamic Emirate and how to address the issue of access to information."
Meanwhile, some journalists and organizations supporting journalists are calling for timely and comprehensive information to be made available to them.
Hujatullah Mujaddidi, head of Afghanistan Independent Journalists Association, said: "It is the responsibility of journalistic and media institutions to support the media by enhancing journalists' capacities, improving media literacy and ethics, and working on maintaining neutrality and innovation."
Rohullah Danish, a journalist, stated: "It is necessary that Afghan media receive more support because they play a significant role not only in information publication but also in education and cultural development within society."
After three years, journalists say they are still facing challenges regarding access to information, and that this issue has not been fully resolved.
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Egeland says Donald Trump’s aid pause ‘disastrous’ for Afghanistan
Trump signed an executive order temporarily suspending all US foreign assistance programs pending reviews to determine whether they are aligned with his policy goals
The head of a major humanitarian organisation said U.S. President Donald Trump's order to halt foreign aid for 90 days would have immediate and disastrous consequences in Afghanistan where relief operations are already stretched thin.
Trump signed an executive order temporarily suspending all US foreign assistance programs pending reviews to determine whether they are aligned with his policy goals.
It was not immediately clear how much assistance would initially be affected by the Monday order as funding for many programs has already been appropriated by Congress and is obligated to be spent, if not already spent.
The scope of the order was not clear, including whether it applied to Afghanistan's humanitarian funding, which is channelled through NGOs and United Nations agencies.
Jan Egeland, the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, told Reuters that the decision had left agencies reeling as they braced for further cuts from the biggest donor to Afghanistan.
"A 90-day suspension of all aid, no new grants, no new transfer of funding, will have disastrous consequences immediately ... for an already starved aid operation for very poor and vulnerable girls and women and civilians in Afghanistan," he said during a video interview from Kabul late on Tuesday.
Afghanistan is home to more than 23 million people requiring humanitarian assistance - more than half the country's population - but aid has shrunk as donors face competing global crises and diplomats raise concerns about the Islamic Emirate’s restrictions on women in most areas of public life, including education and health.
Development funding that formed the backbone of government finances was cut after the IEA took over and foreign forces left in 2021.
Reuters reported last year that non-governmental groups played a critical role in filling the humanitarian void.
"If you go back in time it was a well funded operation, we got development assistance, then we could have perhaps have lived through three months of suspension, we cannot any more," Egeland said.
Trump told a rally shortly before taking office that aid to Afghanistan would be contingent on getting back billions of dollars of military equipment that U.S. forces left behind.
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