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US wants to destabilize whole region using terrorists in Afghanistan: Russian minister
Washington intends to use the potential of illegal armed groups in Afghanistan to destabilize the situation in the region, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said at a meeting of the CSTO defense ministers in Minsk on Thursday.
“Afghanistan remains a hotbed of instability. The main threat comes from illegal armed groups that have significantly strengthened their positions in that country after the Islamic movement Taliban (IEA) came to power. We believe that the United States intends to use the potential of these terrorist organizations to destabilize the situation in the region,” said Shoigu. “For this purpose, the redeployment of fighters from the controlled gangs in Middle East to Afghanistan has been organized.”
“In the future, their infiltration into neighboring countries is possible for committing terrorist acts,” Shoigu said.
The official stressed on the importance of coordination of efforts on the Afghan track and to pay due attention to joint exercises.
Shoigu noted that “instead of working for the reconstruction of Afghanistan after the hasty withdrawal from it, the NATO countries are trying in various ways to restore their military presence in the Central Asian region.”
“We regard this as a direct threat to stability there and in the CSTO space in general,” the Russian defense minister said.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Thursday that terrorist attacks increased in Afghanistan after the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) takeover in August 2021.
“In the 600 days to the leadup to the fall of Kabul, there were a total of five terrorist incidents in Pakistan. 600 days post the fall of Kabul, that number went up to 50. Now this is a genuine concern for us,” Zardari told a Pakistan Senate committee.
He said that if the economic situation continues to deteriorate in Afghanistan, there will be refugee exodus and if security threat emanating from Afghanistan is not taken seriously by the IEA and the international community then “this is a disaster waiting to happen.”
This comes as IEA officials have repeatedly said that they will not allow Afghanistan soil to be used against any other country.
Officials from the Kandahar Chamber of Commerce and Investment say that 294,000 tons of fresh and dried fruit have been exported from the province to foreign countries over the past year.
According to them, the total value of these exports amounts to $519 million.
Abdulbaqi Bina, Deputy Head of the Kandahar Chamber of Commerce and Investment, says the products were exported to India, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Canada and several other countries.
Meanwhile, fresh and dried fruit traders are calling on the government to provide alternative transit routes, new markets, and greater facilitation for obtaining visas and transportation for the export of these products.
This comes as nearly 59,000 tons of fresh and dried fruit were exported from Kandahar to foreign countries
The case of 87 Afghan students seeking extensions of their study visas has reached the Islamabad High Court, with the students also asking for protection from arrest, detention and deportation, Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported.
According to Pakistani journalist Tahir Khan, the students have petitioned the court to order the government to extend their visas and prevent law-enforcement agencies from harassing, arresting, detaining or deporting them solely because their previous study visas have expired.
During Friday’s hearing, lawyer Aimal Khan Mandokhel told the court that Pakistan’s Interior Ministry had issued study visas to the Afghan students about a year ago. However, the students say authorities have since stopped extending existing visas and issuing new ones.
The Afghan Students Union at the International Islamic University Islamabad has also said Pakistani authorities have suspended study visa extensions for Afghan students for an extended period. It added that several students have allegedly been arrested and deported in recent months.
The hearing was adjourned following an exchange between Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro and lawyer Aimal Khan Mandokhel.
The case is expected to be heard again later this month.
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Wali Khan urges Pakistan to resolve tensions with Afghanistan through diplomacy
Wali Khan called on Islamabad to pursue a serious diplomatic approach to de-escalate tensions with Afghanistan and other neighboring countries.
Aimal Wali Khan, the President of Awami National Party (ANP) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has urged the Pakistani government to address tensions with neighboring countries, particularly Afghanistan, through serious diplomatic engagement.
Speaking to reporters in Islamabad on Thursday, Wali Khan said the ongoing tensions are causing the greatest harm to ordinary people, especially those in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
“War is not a permanent solution to any problem,” he stressed.
Wali Khan called on Islamabad to pursue a serious diplomatic approach to de-escalate tensions with Afghanistan and other neighboring countries.
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