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Kabul Suicide Bombing Widely Condemned

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The deadly attack on a religious gathering in Kabul, which killed at least 50 people and injured scores others on Tuesday, has drawn wide condemnation.

In a statement, President Ashraf Ghani described the attack as “unforgivable and a clear act of hostility against Islam’s teaching.” Ghani declared Wednesday a national day of mourning and ordered that flags be flown at half-staff.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the attack and called it “a clear violation of international humanitarian law”. He said, “every effort should be made to bring perpetrators to justice”.

In a separate statement, the UN Security Council also slammed the attack and reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security.

U.S. Department of State spokesperson Heather Nauert said in a statement that the U.S. is committed to peace in Afghanistan.

"The United States strongly condemns the attack in Kabul today at a religious gathering," Nauert said on Tuesday. "The United States remains committed to peace and stability in Afghanistan, and stands by the people of Afghanistan who want peace and a future free from these horrific acts of violence."

Referring to the attack in Kabul, the European Union spokesperson said in a statement that “to attack those who pray or worship in peace is an attack on all of us, religious or not, who value freedom”.

“Together, we stand united against terrorism,” the statement further said,” At next week’s Conference on Afghanistan, hosted by the United Nations in Geneva, the whole international community must re-commit to a peaceful, prosperous Afghanistan.”

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said: “the hidden hands behind these cowardly terrorist operations have had no other goal but to provoke ethnic, sectarian and religious sedition”.

Responding to the deadly attack, the Amnesty International called it horrific.

“Any attack in which civilians are deliberately targeted constitutes a war crime under international law, yet those killed in Kabul today will merely become another statistic,” said Omar Waraich, Amnesty International Deputy South Asia Director.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.

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Khyber Pakhtunkhwa officials to visit Kabul in hope of finding solutions to disputes

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In the hope of settling ongoing disputes, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur said he hopes to send a delegation to Afghanistan within two weeks to seek solutions to Pakistan-Afghanistan issues.

“The federal government talked about negotiations with Afghanistan over bilateral issues, but there’s no success. Now, the dialogue with Kabul will be held at the provincial level.

“A delegation of our [KP] government will meet Afghan officials within two weeks,” Gandapur was quoted by Dawn as saying.

He also said that a delegation of tribal elders from the province would also engage with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

He said he was hopeful that the IEA government would cooperate with the KP teams.

Pakistan has continued to blame Afghanistan for allowing Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to carry out attacks on KP soil from Afghanistan.

However, the IEA has repeatedly said they will not allow any group to plan or conduct attacks against another country from Afghanistan.

Gandapur meanwhile said he hopes the issues Pakistan has with Afghanistan would be resolved through negotiations.

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Pakistan, Iran envoys for Afghan affairs discuss changing int’l geo-political situation

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Pakistan's Special Representative for Afghanistan Muhammad Sadiq and Iran's Special Envoy for Kabul and director general for South Asia, Hashem Ashjazade, met on Monday and discussed the fast changing international geo-political situation and regional challenges faced by the two countries, according to Sadiq’s post on X.

Sadiq stated: “We agreed to jointly address these challenges.”

Sadiq is also expected to travel to Russia and China to discuss Afghanistan with officials from those countries.

Meanwhile, experts believe that Afghanistan should maintain reciprocal relations with Pakistan and play an active role in regional affairs.

The Islamic Emirate also believes that Kabul seeks good relations with all neighboring countries and the region, and aims to strengthen its ties with various countries by following an economy-focused policy.

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Afghan released in prisoner exchange deal with US

The IEA praised the swap as a step toward the “normalization” of ties between the US and Afghanistan

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The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) on Tuesday confirmed the release of an Afghan, Khan Mohammad, from a US prison in exchange for the release of two American nationals.

According to a statement issued by the IEA, this move followed extensive negotiations with the US.

Khan Mohammad, was detained nearly two decades ago in Nangarhar and later sentenced to life imprisonment by a US court. He had been serving his sentence in California.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan considers this exchange as a good example of resolving issues through dialogue, and is particularly grateful to the fraternal State of Qatar for its effective role in this regard,” the statement read.

The IEA praised the swap as a step toward the “normalization” of ties between the US and Afghanistan.

AP meanwhile reported that the freed Afghan had been imprisoned for life on drug trafficking and terrorism charges.

The deal came as former president Joe Biden, who oversaw the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, handed power over to returning President Donald Trump.

AP reported that the family of Ryan Corbett, one American held in Afghanistan, confirmed he had been released.

Corbett was arrested in Afghanistan in August 2022 while on a business trip.

Before Biden left office, his administration had been trying to work out a deal to free Corbett as well as George Glezmann and Mahmood Habibi in exchange for Muhammad Rahim, one of the remaining detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

Glezmann, an airline mechanic from Atlanta, was taken by the IEA’s intelligence services in December 2022 while traveling through the country. Habibi, an Afghan American businessman went missing in 2022.

The IEA has denied that it has Habibi.

It wasn’t immediately clear if either of the two men was the other released. Officials in Washington did not respond to AP’s requests for comment early Tuesday.

 

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