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Afghan leaders call on Taliban to reduce violence and end the war
Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum, the former vice president, and Atta Mohammad Noor, the former governor of Balkh province, on Thursday stressed the need to reduce violence and end the killing of people in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan’s third marshal, Dostum, said during Eid-ul-Fitr prayers in Sheberghan, the capital of Jawzjan province, the Taliban need to consider a continuous ceasefire to achieve peace.
Dostum says the role and position of the people in peace talks must be taken seriously.
Dostum stressed the need to end the war and reduce violence in Afghanistan.
Dostum added that he will not accept the presence of the Taliban with their idea of closing schools and depriving girls of education.
“We support peace and we must make sure that all the people of Afghanistan, all the ethnic figures of the Afghan people see themselves in those decisions,” Dostum said.
Referring to the removal of Naqibullah Fayeq, the former governor of Faryab, Dostum called on the government to leave the decisions on the appointment of governors and district governors to the people.
Meanwhile, Atta Mohammad Noor, the former governor of Balkh, warned the Taliban that if they do not come to the negotiating table and if they think of conquering Afghanistan through war, the people will mobilize alongside the country’s security forces.
Noor, said: “If the fratricide persists, it is where the national mobilization can respond with force alongside the Afghan armed forces under the umbrella of the regime.”
A number of local officials in Balkh are also emphasizing a permanent ceasefire.
“The main goal of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is a permanent ceasefire and an end to the killing of innocent people,” said Farhad Azimi, the governor of Balkh.
Mohammad Afzal Hadid, head of the Balkh Provincial Council, said: “If someone wants to rule the Afghan people with oppression and torture, such governments are not sustainable.”
However, the Taliban have previously said that the Eid ceasefire will not last after Eid and that they will continue their attacks.
Meanwhile, Hezb-e-Islami leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar says that with the withdrawal of foreign troops and a change in government position, or the creation of a transitional government, there is no reason for the war to continue in the country.
Hekmatyar called on the Taliban to pursue a new strategy for peace.
Hekmatyar emphasizes that Afghanistan is in a critical situation and that intelligence units of a number of countries are trying to disrupt the situation for the benefit of themselves.
“Our expectation from the Taliban is that the Taliban need to adopt a new strategy, considering the situation and the fact that foreign forces are leaving and one of the major causes of their war is gone,” he said.
He believes that the only way to achieve unconditional consensus around peace is through influential domestic political channels. He also stressed that if the system changed the military and security structures should remain in place.
The Taliban have intensified fighting in more than 22 provinces of Afghanistan since the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan started and are likely to escalate further after a three-day Eid ceasefire.
A tripartite meeting between the delegations of Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan was held in Kabul with the aim of connecting North Asia to South Asia and reducing transit and transportation costs among these three countries, the Ministry of Trade and Commerce said in a statement.
In this meeting, an agreement was reached on the creation of a joint technical committee to continue the talks.
This tripartite meeting was held under the leadership of Nooruddin Azizi, the Acting Minister of Industry and Commerce, Vice President of Turkmenistan and Srik Zhumangarin, the Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan.
Earlier, a bilateral meeting was held between the delegation of the Islamic Emirate and Turkmenistan. The ministry of commerce said the participants of the meeting discussed the construction of a large joint logistics center in Torghondi, the trilateral transit agreement between the IEA, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan, the expansion of Afghanistan’s railway, solving issues related to Afghan transit and export goods, and a number of other commercial issues.
Acting Minister of National Defense Mohammad Yaqub Mujahid has said that no destructive groups including Daesh have physical presence in Afghanistan, adding the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) will not allow anyone to pose threat to any country in the region from the Afghan soil.
Mujahid made the remarks in a meeting with a delegation from Malaysia in Kabul on Thursday.
According to a statement released by the Ministry of Defense, Mujahid highlighted Malaysia’s “good treatment” of Afghan refugees and its long-standing relations with Afghanistan, and said that Malaysia is a powerful Islamic country and visits should increase.
He added that with the establishment of the Islamic Emirate, occupation and war ended in Afghanistan, and the country is fully secure.
Based on the statement, the Malaysian delegation called Afghanistan a friendly country and while emphasizing on comprehensive cooperation, it assured that what they have seen in Afghanistan will be shared with the authorities of their country.
The European Union signed an agreement worth 17 million euros with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to improve access to basic services, increased economic opportunities and protection for Afghans on the move and their host communities in Afghanistan.
The needs of women and girls are a particular focus of the programme, EU said in a statement released on Thursday.
The statement noted that from January 2023 until April 2024, over 1.5 million Afghans returned from Pakistan and Iran.
“I am deeply moved by the hardship returnees face when being deported to Afghanistan. In a country suffering from poverty and climate change, and in a city that just saw devastating earthquakes, this truly is a crisis within a crisis.”, said Peteris Ustubs, Director for the Middle East, Asia and Pacific of the European Commission’s Department for International Partnerships during the signing ceremony at the IOM transit centre in Herat.
Raffaella Iodice, EU Chargée d’Affaires a.i. to Afghanistan, added “The solidarity of the Afghan people towards their brothers and sisters is an inspiration. We must assure that communities hosting and helping new arrivals are supported. The partnership with IOM ensures access to essential services and provides protection for Afghan returnees and their host communities. As women and girls can be particularly affected, we make sure that all members of society can benefit”.
“IOM’s continued partnership with the EU has been critical in enabling our teams to reach hundreds of thousands of Afghan returnees and other vulnerable communities in the country”, said IOM Afghanistan Chief of Mission, Maria Moita. “Thanks to this renewed commitment, we will be able to focus on addressing the immense challenges in the areas of return and contribute to reintegration, social cohesion, and longer-term solutions for those communities.”
This additional contribution is part of a 5-year programme that is being implemented across Afghanistan and in four countries in the region. It builds on the EU’s previous support to IOM to improve the wellbeing of Afghans forced to return to the country, EU said.
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