Aimal Wali Khan, the President of Awami National Party (ANP) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has urged the Pakistani government to address tensions with neighboring countries, particularly Afghanistan, through serious diplomatic engagement.

Speaking to reporters in Islamabad on Thursday, Wali Khan said the ongoing tensions are causing the greatest harm to ordinary people, especially those in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

“War is not a permanent solution to any problem,” he stressed.

Wali Khan called on Islamabad to pursue a serious diplomatic approach to de-escalate tensions with Afghanistan and other neighboring countries.

Afghanistan and Malaysia have emphasized the need to expand defense cooperation, particularly in training and technical fields, the Afghan Embassy in Malaysia said.

According to the embassy, Shoaib Baryalai, First Director of the Political Directorate at Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Naqibullah Ahmadi, acting head of Afghanistan’s embassy in Malaysia, met with the Deputy Secretary-General of Malaysia’s Ministry of Defense.

The two sides discussed what the embassy described as “positive progress” in relations between Afghanistan and Malaysia.

The meeting focused on expanding cooperation between the two countries’ defense ministries in educational and technical areas.

Both sides also stressed the importance of further strengthening bilateral relations based on mutual interests.

Afghanistan’s child malnutrition crisis has reached an alarming level, with an estimated 3.7 million children across the country suffering from acute malnutrition, according to a report by Arab News.

Around one million of these children are experiencing severe malnutrition, a life-threatening condition requiring urgent treatment and care.

Tajudeen Oyewale, UNICEF’s representative in Afghanistan, told Arab News that limited dietary diversity, poverty, disease, declining humanitarian assistance and growing pressure on health services are among the key factors driving the crisis.

He said access to diverse, nutritious foods and proper child-feeding practices remains a major challenge for Afghan families.

Oyewale also noted that the return of more than six million people from Iran and Pakistan since 2023 has placed additional pressure on Afghanistan’s health services, food supplies and water resources.

According to UNICEF, its child nutrition programme in Afghanistan requires around $180 million in 2026, but only 22 percent of the required funding has been secured so far.

The UNICEF representative said the organization has the knowledge, capacity and access needed to address malnutrition, but stressed that flexible and sustained funding is essential to expand services and reach vulnerable children.