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IEA to establish a ‘much smaller’ military force: Muttaqi

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Afghanistan’s acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said on Friday in Islamabad that the country no longer needs a large military and that not all former Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) will be re-employed.

“The army that was created by foreign intervention, we are no longer in need of having such large numbers,” said Muttaqi during a discussion with the Institute of Strategic Studies.

He was responding to a question about the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s strategy for integrating IEA fighters and ANDSF personnel into one military.

He said his country needed a small army “made up of people with fidelity and commitment and patriotism ingrained in them.”

Muttaqi was in Pakistan for discussions on numerous issues including the reopening of trade routes.

On Thursday, he also met representatives from the United States, China, and Russia, who were in Pakistan for a Troika Plus meeting on Afghanistan.

In response to the international community’s calls for an inclusive government, Muttaqi said the current administration is inclusive as it includes people from different ethnicities.

He said the international community is trying to force the IEA to include their political opponents, which is not the norm in other countries.

“We have never asked [U.S.] President [Joe] Biden to include [former] president [Donald] Trump in his cabinet,” he said.

On the issue of women’s rights, he claimed the IEA has not fired a single woman from her job since they came to power.

Human Rights Watch’s Heather Barr disagreed. She said: “Maybe they didn’t say to any women you are fired from your job, but they’ve certainly told many, many, many women that they shouldn’t come to work, and they shouldn’t come to work indefinitely.”

Muttaqi meanwhile said the IEA is trying to take a balanced approach in international relations.

“As for international recognition, what we are experiencing is that we are being recognized and treated as an official government of Afghanistan in our travels and in other cases,” he said.

“Embassies are open inside our country, and we have embassies and representation in foreign countries.”

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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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