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Washington condemns attack on Kandahar base housing US troops
The Pentagon condemned the Taliban attack on a Kandahar air base Wednesday, where several hundred U.S. troops are based, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said at a press briefing.
“We condemn today’s attack on Kandahar airfield, home to several hundred U.S. and coalition personnel,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday night at the press briefing.
“While the attack resulted in no casualties or damage, the Taliban’s decision to provoke even more violence in Afghanistan remains disruptive to the opportunity for peace presented by ongoing negotiations,” he added.
A U.S. Forces-Afghanistan spokesman said the airfield is under control of the Afghan government, but U.S. and coalition troops are still present.
“The rockets landed outside the perimeter and there was no damage [and] no casualties,” the spokesman said in a statement.
Kirby, however, would not directly answer a question by the Washington Examiner on whether the attack constituted a violation of the U.S. agreement with the Taliban.
“I’m not prepared to give you an assessment right now, one way or the other, as to how this suits with the agreement,” he said.
“Clearly, the violence is too high,” he said of the situation in Afghanistan. “Clearly, this attack certainly indicates that’s going to be disruptive to the opportunity to achieve a peaceful negotiation, but I’m not prepared today to give an assessment of this attack as balance against the Doha agreement.”
Wednesday’s rocket attack comes just three weeks before the May 1 deadline for U.S troops withdrawal from Afghanistan as per the agreement signed in February last year between the Taliban and the US.
However, the Biden administration is still reviewing the situation and expectations currently are Washington will seek to extend troop presence in Afghanistan for the short-term.
Last month US President Joe Biden said in an interview a complete withdrawal would not be impossible but it would be “tough” from a logistics point of view.
Officials at the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) say 7,000 incomplete projects of the World Bank are at risk of destruction in Afghanistan. They call on the World Bank to resume the work of these projects.
According to them, discussions have been held with the World Bank about these projects, but there has been no result yet.
“7,000 incomplete projects are being destroyed, and if the work is not started, these projects will be destroyed. We ask the World Bank to resume the work of these projects as soon as possible,” said Noorul Hadi Adel, the spokesperson of MRRD.
Meanwhile, members of the private sector also ask international institutions to resume their work in Afghanistan.
According to the officials of this sector, with the start of these projects, job opportunities will be provided for thousands of people in the country.
“These projects create employment for our people and the country will grow a lot,” said Mirwais Hajizadeh, a member of the private sector.
However, economic experts stated if the work of these projects does not start soon, they will be destroyed and the investments made in them will be wasted.
Ten people have been killed and six others injured by floods in Helmand province in the past week, local officials said on Friday.
According to officials, seven of those were members of the same family, and they were killed in Kajaki district last night.
“Most of the people moved from vulnerable areas to high lands and mountains, and thanks Allah the number of casualties is low,” Sher Mohammad Vahdat, the head of information of the Directorate of Information and Culture in Helmand, said adding rescue teams and security forces have been dispatched to help people.
It is said that the telecommunication system has also been disrupted due to the effect of floods in Kajaki district. Floods have also destroyed thousands of acres of agricultural land.
Roza Otunbayeva, the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, met with the Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in New Delhi and discussed issues related to Afghanistan, it was announced on Thursday.
During the meeting, Otunbayeva thanked India for “its critical humanitarian support and longstanding friendship for the Afghan people” and discussed the importance of regional and international cooperation to address prevailing challenges in Afghanistan, UNAMA said on X.
Jaishankar also said on X that the sides exchanged views on the current situation in Afghanistan.
“Underlined that India has provided wheat, medicines, pesticides and school supplies. Appreciate the role of UN agencies as partners in these endeavors,” he said.
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