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Afghan Media to be Commended for Working Against ‘Immense’ Challenges: UN
Afghanistan media professionals, who continue to work against immense challenges, are to be commended for their courage and determination, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan’s (UNAMA) Secretary General Tadamichi Yamamoto said on Tuesday.
“The many victories of media in Afghanistan have been hard won,” said the UN envoy, who is also head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). “In the world rankings of press openness and freedom, Afghanistan, a nation embroiled in conflict, has managed to hold its place in world press freedom rankings even as fighting takes a heavy toll on journalists.”
Yamamoto said Afghanistan’s media professionals, women and men, are to be commended and celebrated for their courage and determination. “Be assured that the UN and international community are immensely grateful for your work,” he said at an event in Kabul to mark World Press Freedom Day on Wednesday.
In other part of his speech, the UN envoy described the past solar year as one of the worst violent years for journalists and media staff in Afghanistan over the last two decades. He said: “In this period there were 400 cases of violence against the media.”
Following the matter, Afghanistan’s Journalists National Union, Chief Executive Fahim Dashti said the government has set a joint committee for safety of journalists but it has not taken any practical step.
Based on estimation of Afghanistan Journalists Association, in 2016, 128 cases of violence, 14 cases of murder, 8 detention cases, 18 cases of beating and 11 cases of government censorship have been recorded.
“Over the past 15 years government has not taken this issue seriously. From 60 journalists’ murder cases only two of them have been addressed,” Dashti said.
However, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah said: “We support you, you work in accordance to the Constitution of Afghanistan, and media has the power which cannot be kept silent in a word.”
“A team has been tasked to address all violence cases through the departments of all provinces,” Abdullah added.
This comes as the Attorney General Office (AGO) has registered 679 cases of murder and violence against journalists since 2001.
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Girls’ education is a ‘vital issue’ for Afghanistan: Karzai
Former president Hamid Karzai said in a meeting with Iran’s ambassador and special representative, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, that education of girls was a “vital issue” for Afghanistan.
Karzai said he appreciated Iran’s cooperation and its standing with the Afghan people, especially Iran’s contributions to education in Afghanistan.
During the meeting, Karzai said peace and stability in the region are in the interest of all regional countries.
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Uzbekistan’s humanitarian aid arrives in Balkh
A shipment of humanitarian aid from Uzbekistan was handed over on Thursday to the local officials of Balkh province in the trade port of Hairatan.
Local authorities said the aid, which includes flour, oil, wheat, sugar and meat, has been handed over by Uzbekistan’s Surkhandarya governor to the governor of Balkh.
The governor of Surkhandarya stated the purpose of sending this aid was to support the people of Afghanistan and stressed the need for the development of good relations between the two countries.
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Afghanistan’s problems caused more damage to Pakistan than 3 wars with India: Durrani
Islamabad’s special envoy for Afghanistan Asif Durrani said on Wednesday that Pakistan has suffered more due to Afghanistan’s internal situation than Pakistan has suffered in three wars with India in terms of blood spilt and finances drained.
Durrani said at a one-day International Conference titled “Pakistan in the Emerging Geopolitical Landscape”, which was organized by the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) and the German Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), that over 80,000 Pakistanis died in the two decades of the War on Terror and that his country was still counting its dead and injured.
“After the withdrawal of NATO forces, it was hoped that peace in Afghanistan would bring peace to the region. However, such expectations were short-lived,” he said.
He also stated that attacks by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant group on Pakistan’s border areas increased by 65 percent, while suicide attacks increased by 500 percent.
“The TTP’s enhanced attacks on Pakistan while using Afghan soil have been a serious concern for Pakistan. Another worrying aspect is the participation of Afghan nationals in these attacks,” he said.
Durrani also said Pakistan had suffered geopolitically since the Soviet Union invaded the neighboring country.
“The post-9/11 world order has negatively impacted Pakistan. Apart from losing 80,000 citizens’ lives, including 8,000 law enforcement agency personnel, the country’s economic opportunity cost is estimated at $150 billion,” Durrani said.
Talking about the future outlook for Pakistan in the regional context, Durrani said that while “our eastern neighbor is likely to continue with its anti-Pakistan pursuits, the western border poses an avoidable irritant in the short to medium term.”
However, he said Pakistan can overcome its difficulties with Afghanistan, including the TTP challenge.
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