Badakhshan Governor Mohammad Ayub Khalid has said that hundreds of kilometers of roads have been repaired and paved in the province in the past year, and that work on the road connecting Badakhshan with Panjshir and the construction of the Badakhshan ring road is ongoing.

Badakhshan is in the north-eastern part of Afghanistan and sits mostly in the Hindu Kush and Pamir mountains. Poor roads have plagued this province for decades.

"The road between Darayem and Argo districts has been repaired, paved and gravelled. Likewise, with the cooperation of the Ministry of Public Works, we paved the road between Argo and Faiz Abad."

Khalid added that they have started construction of the Badakhshan ring road in the border districts, the asphalting of the Pamir road up to the Chinese border and will open Khwahan district road to Darwazaha region.

"It's been more than two and a half months since the explosions started in the mountains. The road has been widened to a great extent. The ring road in Badakhshan is very important and its work has started. Meanwhile, we proposed about Kuran wa Munjan, which connects Badakhshan and Panjshir, and it has been approved.”

Residents of Darwazha region say that the road to their districts has been closed for several months, which has caused serious problems for them. They want the government to address the problem of poor road conditions before the arrival of winter.

"Before the cold season arrives, the roads that connect the districts and villages must be reconstructed,” said Ahmad Nabil Qazizada, a resident of Badakhshan.

According to the governor of Badakhshan, construction and repair of hundreds of kilometers of roads has been completed in the last year in coordination with the ministries of rural development, public works and the ministry of national defense.

Afghanistan will not participate in the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, which will take place in Islamabad on October 15 and 16, as it has not received an invitation from the bloc's secretariat.

Express News reported that the secretariat’s decision underscores Afghanistan's current status within the organization, as it is classified as an observer state rather than a full member.

Diplomatic sources indicate that Afghanistan's membership in the SCO has been inactive since September 2021. The country became an SCO observer on June 7, 2012, but has not engaged actively since its membership was rendered, Express News reported.

Pakistan, the host country for the summit, is expected to welcome leaders from various nations and around 200 delegations.

The SCO remains focused on fostering regional cooperation and security, with significant participation anticipated at the upcoming meeting.

Hassan Kazemi Qomi, Iran's special representative for Afghanistan, said this weekend that one of the key points of discussion at the 6th Moscow Format meeting held Friday was on how to prevent the flood of migration from Afghanistan.

He said neighboring countries also discussed ways to help Afghanistan deal with terrorism and how to create necessary conditions for the reconstruction of the country, in the form of a regional initiative.

In an interview with IRNA news agency, Qomi said in a conversation with IRNA news agency that ten countries participated at the meeting along with Afghanistan’s Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi. 

Qomi said: "Despite the current developments in the international arena, especially in Palestine and Lebanon, the issue of Afghanistan is still considered one of the important regional priorities."

He also emphasized that using the capacities of neighboring countries and regional cooperation can help the Islamic Emirate and the people of Afghanistan to overcome their problems.

Special representatives and high-ranking officials from China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan took part.