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Afghans label troop withdrawal plan as ‘irresponsible’

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Officials have slammed the planned unconditional withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and said the withdrawal should be done responsibly.

Speaking to Germany’s DPA news agency after news broke of US President Joe Biden’s expected announcement that troops will exit by September 11, one peace talks negotiator in Doha said: "It is the most irresponsible, selfish thing the United States could do to its Afghan partners."

The peace talks team member, who asked not to be named, told DPA it might be the end of the war for Washington, but that Afghan partners will pay the price.

"They could have ended this in a responsible way, with a little more patience," the negotiator said.

The former head of Afghanistan's independent human rights commission Sima Samar meanwhile called the unconditional withdrawal "unfortunate."

"The withdrawal should be conditional and responsible," Samar said, adding that Afghans need to learn from the past, in an apparent reference to the sudden Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989 which led to the devastating civil war.

US Secretary of State confirmed reports on Wednesday that Washington would withdraw all its troops.

Ahead of a meeting with his NATO counterparts, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the time has come for international forces to withdraw from Afghanistan.

"Together, we went into Afghanistan to deal with those who attacked us and to make sure that Afghanistan would not again become a haven for terrorists who might attack any of us," Blinken said as he arrived at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday.

"Together, we have achieved the goals that we we set out to achieve. And now it is time to bring our forces home," he said.

The German defence minister went further and said ahead of Wednesday's meeting that all NATO countries will pull out of Afghanistan together.

The Presidential Palace (ARG) has not yet commented on the reports. The Afghan presidential palace has not reacted to the decision yet. However, a presidential advisor had previously said that they would not comment until Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had spoken to President Biden about details of the withdrawal plan.

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Human traffickers should be sentenced to 1 to 3 years in prison: IEA leader

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The Leader of the Islamic Emirate has issued a decree instructing the Ministry of Interior Affairs to prevent human trafficking and to arrest and refer culprits to military courts.

The decree containing six articles says that that military courts should sentence human traffickers to one year in prison for the first time, two years if repeated for the second time and three years if repeated for the third time.

The ministries of Hajj, information, telecommunications, borders, propagation of virtue, as well as religious scholars are asked to inform the public about the dangers and adverse consequences of travelling through smuggling routes.

The decree comes as the rate of migration has increased following the political change in Afghanistan in 2021.

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Eight Afghan migrants die as boat capsizes off Greek island

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Eight Afghan migrants died after a speedboat carrying migrants capsized off Greece's eastern island of Rhodes on Friday, the Associated Press reported.

Greek authorities said that the capsizing was the result of the boat’s maneuvering to evade a patrol vessel.

A total of 18 migrants — 12 men, three women and three minors — all Afghan nationals, were rescued, Greece's coast guard said Saturday. The dead were also from Afghanistan, it said.

Some migrants remained hospitalized, with one in critical condition, authorities said.

Two Turkish citizens, ages 23 and 19, were arrested as the suspected traffickers. The boat sank after capsizing, the coast guard said.

The sinking off Rhodes was the second deadly incident involving migrants in the past week.

Seven migrants were killed and dozens were believed missing after a boat partially sank south of the island of Crete over the weekend — one of four rescue operations during which more than 200 migrants were rescued.

 

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Norwegian Chargé d’Affaires meets with IEA deputy foreign minister

Welcoming the diplomat’s visit to Kabul, Stanikzai underscored the importance of political relations between Afghanistan and Norway, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

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The Norwegian Chargé d’Affaires for Afghanistan, Per Albert Ilsaas, on Saturday met with IEA’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs, Sher Muhammad Abbas Stanikzai, in Kabul.

Welcoming the diplomat’s visit to Kabul, Stanikzai underscored the importance of political relations between Afghanistan and Norway, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

In addition to focusing on bilateral political, humanitarian, and other pertinent issues, the two sides expressed hope that continued engagement would lead to constructive solutions to related issues.

This comes two weeks after the Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi expressed disappointment regarding the decision by the Norwegian government to downgrade diplomatic relations with Afghanistan.

Balkhi said in a post on X that such decisions should not be linked with internal affairs of other countries.

“Diplomatic engagement is most effective when it fosters mutual understanding and respect, even amidst differing viewpoints,” he stated.

“Access to consular services is a fundamental right of all nationals. We strongly urge all parties to prioritize this principle in the spirit of international cooperation,” he added.

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