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Withdrawal of troops also means withdrawal of foreign contractors: SIGAR

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Washington’s Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction’s (SIGAR) John F Sopko this week warned that the May 1 troop withdrawal deadline does not only apply to foreign military forces, numbering around 10,000 in total, but also to as many as 18,000 foreign contractors and trainers currently in Afghanistan.

Sopko said in his latest report, SIGAR’s 2021 High Risk List, that there are “reasons to believe that without sustained support, Afghan security forces will fall apart because of a lack of personnel.”

He said as recently as the first quarter of fiscal 2021, 40 percent of the Afghan military’s logistics, maintenance and training depended upon 18,000 contractors and trainers who supplement the almost 10,000 U.S. and NATO forces in the country.

Under the terms of the US-Taliban deal signed in Doha in February last year, those key personnel are required to either stop work or withdraw along with U.S. forces.

“The Afghan government relies heavily on these foreign contractors and trainers to function,” Sopko said.

“This may be more devastating to the effectiveness of the Afghan security forces than a withdrawal of our remaining troops,” he added, noting that “no Afghan airframe can be sustained as combat effective for more than a few months in the absence of contractor support.”

Sopko also said that underlying all of this, is the fact that the Afghan government still cannot sustain itself despite $143 billion in U.S. assistance to help rebuild the country and considerable aid from other donors.

“This has been a horrible waste of [U.S.] taxpayer money, in many regards,” Sopko said.

“It may not be an overstatement that if foreign assistance is withdrawn and peace negotiations fail, Taliban forces could be at the gates of Kabul in short order.”

The U.S. believes the government in Kabul is still years away from being able to oversee the $50 million payroll system that has been in development since 2016.

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IEA facilitates release of 17 Afghans from some African countries’ prisons

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The head of public relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zia Ahmad Takal, said on Saturday in a statement that the efforts of the Embassy of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in Cairo, the capital of Egypt, over the past three months have led to the release of 17 Afghan prisoners from prisons in several African countries, including Egypt, Morocco, Libya, Sudan, and Mauritania.

Takal stated these individuals were detained for various charges and have now been repatriated to Afghanistan via Ariana Afghan Airlines.

He said the process of releasing these Afghan prisoners was carried out in coordination with the Afghan Embassy in Cairo and the countries mentioned above.

Takal added that the Afghan Embassy in Cairo will continue its efforts in the future to support Afghan citizens and ensure their rights are protected.

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Muttaqi: Our actions should be such that people are encouraged towards religion

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Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Amir Khan Muttaqi has said that regligious scholars should serve all sections of society, both in the religious and worldly spheres, and their actions should be such that people are encouraged towards religion.

Addressing students at the Jaamia Riaz-ul-Uloom in Kabul, Muttaqi also stressed the need for unity.

“You should gather everyone around you. No one should be disappointed in you. No one should be offended by you. No one should run away from you. Why should they run away? You should befriend one who runs away. Why should your friend leave you? You have knowledge. You have a system. You have seen the world. You have experience in dealing with matters. Why should he leave you?” Muttaqi said.

He also said that no one should look at another person as if he is less pious.

Muttaqi also warned that “unwarranted criticism leads to destruction.”

“If a sheep, cow or goat leaves the flock, it is eaten by wolf,” he said.

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Ukraine could become EU’s ‘Afghanistan’: Hungarian PM

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The war in Ukraine could turn into the European Union’s “Afghanistan,” a grinding and costly engagement with “no way out,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban claimed on Friday.

Speaking to former Fox News host Tucker Carlson at a media event in Dubai, Orbán noted the hundreds of billions of euros in aid the EU has spent helping Ukraine resist Russia’s full-scale invasion, which Moscow launched three years ago this month, Politico reported.

“If President [Donald] Trump is not able to find a solution, that war could become easily an Afghanistan for the European Union,” Orbán said, referring to the United States’ 20-year war in the Central Asian country.

Beginning in 2001 immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks and ending in 2021 with the abrupt withdrawal of U.S. troops, the war in Afghanistan remains the longest American war in history.

“Endless war, endless conflict, no way out of the conflict, eating up energy, human lives, money, everything,” Orbán said, continuing with his comparison. “Destroying the frame of normal life for the European Union. … We are in serious danger.”

Orbán, who is one of the few European leaders to remain friendly with Putin, repeated Kremlin talking points that Russia invaded Ukraine in a bid to stop it from joining NATO.

 

 

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