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Lavrov opens Moscow Summit, says Afghan conflict is fueling extremism
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov officially opened Thursday’s landmark peace summit in Moscow which has brought together representatives of the Afghan Republic and the Taliban, along with other key stakeholders, in a concerted push by the foreign community to accelerate the peace process.
Addressing the opening of the meeting Lavrov said insecurity in Afghanistan is fueling the rise of extremist groups, including ISIS.
He said this will threaten the region and increase terrorism and in turn called on the United States and the Taliban to stick to commitments sealed in the Doha Agreement signed in February last year.
Lavrov said the Doha process has not yielded positive results for peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan but that Russia expects progress at the Moscow meeting. “At the same time, we are seeing the situation (conflict) get worse,” he said.
Lavrov said Russia is particularly concerned about the fact that conflict traditionally intensifies in spring and summer in Afghanistan. “We see that both sides of the war are endangering the civilian population.”
Also attending the meeting is US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad, who said earlier Thursday that the Doha talks have for now been pushed to one side.
Delegates from Pakistan, China, Iran, Turkey and Qatar are also in attendance, while Abdullah Abdullah, Afghanistan’s chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation is leading the Afghan Republic’s 12-member team.
This team includes only one woman, Habiba Sarabi.
In a tweet Thursday afternoon, one of the Republic’s delegates Nader Nadery stated he hoped an “equal number of women on tables should become the norm.”
While Afghanistan has one woman present, the Taliban was devoid of any female representation.
The Moscow meeting is one of two that have been scheduled over the next few weeks – the other planned for Turkey next month and comes amid a new push by the US to get the two warring sides to find a political solution to the 20-year old war.
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IEA urges World Bank to resume work on 7,000 incomplete projects
Officials at the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) say 7,000 incomplete projects of the World Bank are at risk of destruction in Afghanistan. They call on the World Bank to resume the work of these projects.
According to them, discussions have been held with the World Bank about these projects, but there has been no result yet.
“7,000 incomplete projects are being destroyed, and if the work is not started, these projects will be destroyed. We ask the World Bank to resume the work of these projects as soon as possible,” said Noorul Hadi Adel, the spokesperson of MRRD.
Meanwhile, members of the private sector also ask international institutions to resume their work in Afghanistan.
According to the officials of this sector, with the start of these projects, job opportunities will be provided for thousands of people in the country.
“These projects create employment for our people and the country will grow a lot,” said Mirwais Hajizadeh, a member of the private sector.
However, economic experts stated if the work of these projects does not start soon, they will be destroyed and the investments made in them will be wasted.
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Ten people killed by floods in Helmand
Ten people have been killed and six others injured by floods in Helmand province in the past week, local officials said on Friday.
According to officials, seven of those were members of the same family, and they were killed in Kajaki district last night.
“Most of the people moved from vulnerable areas to high lands and mountains, and thanks Allah the number of casualties is low,” Sher Mohammad Vahdat, the head of information of the Directorate of Information and Culture in Helmand, said adding rescue teams and security forces have been dispatched to help people.
It is said that the telecommunication system has also been disrupted due to the effect of floods in Kajaki district. Floods have also destroyed thousands of acres of agricultural land.
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UN envoy meets Indian foreign minister to discuss Afghanistan
Roza Otunbayeva, the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, met with the Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in New Delhi and discussed issues related to Afghanistan, it was announced on Thursday.
During the meeting, Otunbayeva thanked India for “its critical humanitarian support and longstanding friendship for the Afghan people” and discussed the importance of regional and international cooperation to address prevailing challenges in Afghanistan, UNAMA said on X.
Jaishankar also said on X that the sides exchanged views on the current situation in Afghanistan.
“Underlined that India has provided wheat, medicines, pesticides and school supplies. Appreciate the role of UN agencies as partners in these endeavors,” he said.
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