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World ‘must engage’ or risk Afghanistan’s collapse, UN Security Council hears

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Senior UN envoy for Afghanistan, Markus Potzel, said on Tuesday that despite some positive developments over the past few months , “patience is running out” for many in the international community when it comes to effectively engaging with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA).

Addressing the UN Security Council meeting, he also said while there have been positive developments they have been “too few and too slow and they are outweighed by the negatives”.

Potzel said the ongoing ban on girls’ secondary education and growing restrictions on women’s rights, were “signals that the Taliban (IEA) are indifferent to more than 50 percent of the population” and are willing to risk international isolation.

“The relegation of women and girls to the home not only deprives them of their rights, but Afghanistan as a whole is denied the benefit of the significant contributions that women and girls have to offer,” he said.

He also said the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has monitored a steady rise in security incidents by terrorist groups and others.

“Our earlier warnings about the capabilities of Islamic State Khorasan Province (Daesh) were dismissed by the Taliban (IEA)”, he told ambassadors.

“But ISKP has demonstrated in the last few months alone that it can carry out assassinations of figures close to the Taliban (IEA), attacks against foreign embassies, as well as fire rockets across Afghanistan’s border to attack its neighbours - all while maintaining its long-standing sectarian campaign against Shia Muslims and ethnic minorities,” said Potzel.

He noted that armed clashes are continuing between IEA security forces and armed opposition groups in the Panjshir, Baghlan, Kapisa, Takhar, and Badakhshan provinces.

As per capita income has collapsed to 2007 levels – erasing 15 years of economic growth – the country’s economic situation “remains tenuous” due in part to Afghanistan’s isolation from the international banking system.

“Liquidity remains heavily dependent on the cash that the UN continues to bring in for humanitarian operations – cash, I must stress, that supports the needs of the Afghan people and does not directly reach the de facto authorities,” said Potzel.

But even the funding is uncertain as the 2022 Humanitarian Response Plan has only received $1.9 billion out of a $4.4 billion requirement.

Humanitarian and economic measures will not meet the Afghan people’s longer-term needs, and the emergency aid cannot replace essential service delivery systems, such as health and water, or hold off an economic collapse, he warned.

While the IEA has not been recognized by any State, the international community also does not want to see the country collapse, Potzel stressed.

“If the Taliban (IEA) do not respond to the needs of all elements of Afghan society and constructively engage within the very limited window of opportunity with the international community, it is unclear what would come next,” he said.

“Further fragmentation, isolation, poverty, and internal conflict are among the likely scenarios, leading to potential mass migration and a domestic environment conducive to terrorist organizations, as well as greater misery for the Afghan population.

“That’s why we have to engage”, he declared, adding that “continued qualified engagement” was the most realistic way of helping the Afghan people.

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Iran enforces stricter laws on employment of illegal immigrants

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Iran's Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni said on Thursday that the country has enforced stricter laws on the employment of illegal immigrants.

According to IRNA, Momeni told reporters that since March last year, about 1.1 million illegal foreign citizens have been repatriated to their country with the coordination of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Pointing out that some deported illegal foreign nationals return to Iran, he stated: "Plans in the areas of physical and electronic border closures have been prioritized to minimize the number of returns."

Momeni emphasized that employing illegal foreign nationals deprives Iranians of many job opportunities, therefore, labor laws have been implemented more strictly in this regard and violating employers will face action.

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IEA says it has control of Afghanistan embassy in Ankara

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A foreign ministry official in Kabul said on Thursday that the Islamic Emirate's diplomats at the Afghanistan embassy in Ankara provide consular services and represent the country.

Earlier, the Afghan embassy in Ankara said in a statement that all diplomats appointed by the previous government would end their missions from February 6, 2025, adding that the embassy was handed over to the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

Zakir Jalali, director of the third political department of the Afghan Foreign Ministry, said on X that the Afghan embassy in Ankara continues to operate and is at the service of citizens and other visitors.

"Citizens should be assured that consular services and representating duties are carried out by the diplomats of the Islamic Emirate in the embassy with transparency, responsibility and full commitment," he said. "Changes in diplomatic personnel are common in diplomatic missions.”

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IEA rejects claims of being targeted by cyberattackers

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The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) said in a statement on Thursday that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s (IEA) digital systems have not been hacked and that all its data is secure.

This comes after a self-declared hacker group started posting documents on social media claiming that these were taken from IEA government systems over the past 12 months.

However, the IEA said in a statement on Thursday that the documents shared on social media were old documents that could have been leaked from individual computers that lacked security.

The IEA said the aim of social media users, who published the documents, was to confuse the public and make it appear as if the Islamic Emirate’s systems had been targeted in a cyberattack.

They also said their systems are secure, maintained by professional staff and protected from external interference.

In addition, the National Data Center and other archived systems are fully secure and have been reliably maintained against cyberattacks, the IEA’s statement read.

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