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US and Taliban discuss pause in airstrikes to spur peace talks

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American and Taliban negotiators are discussing a pause in U.S. airstrikes and drone flights in Afghanistan in order to revive stalled peace talks, Stars and Stripes reported Wednesday.

According to Stripes, a temporary bombing halt is one of several ideas Biden administration officials are discussing if Taliban militants agree to sharply reduce attacks and assassinations ahead of high-level peace talks planned for early next month in Istanbul.

But the idea remains a concept on paper only, dependent on steps by the Taliban to reduce violence first, several U.S. officials told Stripes.

A halt to U.S. air operations worries the Afghan government and its military, which still relies on U.S. airstrikes and aerial surveillance video from drones to help hold back the Taliban.

The move has also caused alarm among some in the Pentagon who are skeptical that concessions to the Taliban will make the militants more likely to make peace with the Afghan government, Stripes reported.

This comes ahead of the May 1 troop withdrawal deadline in accordance with the US-Taliban deal signed in February last year by former President Donald Trump’s administration.

However, the deal has been under review for the past few weeks but no decision has yet been made.

In an interview with NBC earlier this month, President Joe Biden signaled that a withdrawal by May 1 would be “tough” for U.S. troops.

He added, though, that if the deadline for the U.S. exit was extended, it would not be by “a lot longer.”

Stripes report that among the options being considered, one approach is for a 48-hour halt in U.S. military air operations after the Taliban reduces attacks, a sequencing meant to demonstrate to the group’s leadership that the U.S. is open to military concessions if Taliban fighters reduce their attacks, according to officials involved in the deliberations.

If that initial reduction in violence holds, the bombing pause could be extended.

Stripes also reported that better security across Afghanistan, in turn, is seen by U.S. officials as a prerequisite to getting Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to pursue serious talks with the Taliban on a lasting cease-fire and on forming a transitional government.

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OIC chief says it will continue dialogue with IEA on women and girls’ rights

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The Secretary-General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, has said the organization will continue engaging with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) on women’s and girls’ rights to education and employment, while supporting the country’s humanitarian and economic needs.

“In Afghanistan, we will continue dialogue with the de facto authorities on the rights of women and girls to education and work, based on Islamic values, and support the humanitarian and economic needs of the Afghan people,” he said addressing the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers in Baghdad, Iraq.

At the meeting, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also said the situation in Afghanistan, Sudan and Somalia was challenging and should be at the top of the meeting’s agenda.

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Mullah Baradar urges UNAMA not to overlook Afghanistan’s economic and security achievements

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Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, has urged the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) to publish its reports on Afghanistan impartially, taking the country’s realities into account and not overlooking its economic and security achievements.

He made the remarks on Sunday at a ceremony organised by the Afghan Red Crescent Society to mark the special week dedicated to supporting people in need.

Baradar said: “It is not fair for Afghanistan’s economic and security achievements to be ignored in reports, while UNAMA, as an opposing and hostile party, focuses on the negative aspects.”

The deputy prime minister for economic affairs said many Afghans were facing a severe economic and humanitarian crisis due to recent droughts, seasonal floods, earthquakes and the forced return of thousands of families to the country. He said addressing these challenges required serious attention.

He called on wealthy individuals, traders, investors, charitable organisations and international humanitarian agencies to provide practical assistance and cooperate with the Afghan Red Crescent Society.

Meanwhile, Noorulhaq Anwar, head of the General Directorate of Administrative Affairs, called on Afghanistan’s neighbouring countries to stop harassing and suppressing Afghans and depriving them of economic opportunities.

Referring to relations between neighbours, Anwar said neighbours should help reduce one another’s difficulties rather than make people’s lives harder through economic pressure.

Without naming any specific country, Anwar added that Afghanistan’s neighbours were still harassing and suppressing Afghans and depriving them economically.

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Hegseth says only a few NATO allies were involved in fighting in Afghanistan

Recalling his deployment to Afghanistan, Hegseth said he would visit NATO headquarters in Kabul, where the flags of around 50 countries were displayed.

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U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has said that only a small number of NATO allies were actively involved in combat operations in Afghanistan, despite dozens of countries contributing to the alliance’s mission in the country.
 
Hegseth made the remarks while speaking to ROTC cadets and military recruits at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville on October 17, during a stop on his “Send Me Tour.”
 
Recalling his deployment to Afghanistan as a captain, Hegseth said he would visit NATO headquarters in Kabul, where the flags of around 50 countries were displayed.
 
“It was a beautiful thing to see 50 different countries contributing to the NATO alliance and the ISAF mission there,” he said.
 
However, Hegseth questioned the extent of those countries’ involvement in combat, claiming that only a few contributed to fighting operations.
 
“Except there were like maybe five that contributed. It was actually closer to one or two that, by the end, were actually involved in kinetic operations,” he said.
 
NATO’s ISAF mission was established in 2001 following the September 11 attacks and operated in Afghanistan until the end of 2014. It was succeeded by the Resolute Support mission, which focused on training, advising and assisting Afghan security forces until its conclusion in 2021.
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