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MoD to form a new, independent national army
Afghan Ministry of Defense (MoD) officials said Saturday that they will establish a new army that is independent in order to defend Afghanistan’s territory and airspace.
Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, acting minister of defense and son of Mullah Mohammad Omar, founder of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), said in a voice clip on Sunday that efforts are being made to safeguard Afghanistan’s territory and airspace.
“We intend to create a national and independent army under MoD to defend the country with high values. We will attempt to equip the IEA army with modern weapons. The army should have ground and airspace capabilities,” said Mullah Yaqoob.
The acting minister assured the international community and countries in the region that no one will be allowed to use Afghanistan terrority to carry out attacks against them.
“Countries in the world know that an army is impossible without foreign assistance. The world should help Afghanistan in this regard,” said Mohammad Sarwar Naizai, a military analyst.
The caretaker minister did not however provide further details about how the IEA will finance the army or whether it will include soldiers from the former government.
The previous Western-backed government paid the salaries of the then soldiers with money from the United States. On August 15, when former president Ashraf Ghani and all his top officials fled the country, the US and NATO-trained army and airforce disintegrated within hours.
The same day, IEA forces rolled into Kabul and took over as the new rulers. However, the foreign donor community and the US immediately cut off financial aid to Afghanistan and froze all the central bank’s foreign reserves – cutting off salaries to hundreds of thousands of former soldiers and government workers.
Some IEA officials meanwhile said that former government soldiers will be brought back into the army.
“We have left the way open for those people who were in security institutions in the former government. Some of them have returned already,” said Qari Saeed Khosti, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior Affairs.
Afghan nationals were among dozens of people injured during recent missile and drone attacks launched by Iran against the United Arab Emirates, according to the UAE Ministry of Defence.
Authorities said the attacks caused over 100 minor injuries among residents of multiple nationalities, including Emirati, Egyptian, Ethiopian, Filipino, Pakistani, Indian, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Lebanese and Afghan nationals.
The ministry also confirmed three fatalities — citizens of Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh — following the strikes.
The attacks are part of a wider escalation across the Middle East after US-Israeli strikes on Iran triggered retaliatory drone and missile launches against several Gulf states, including the UAE.
UAE Ministry of Defense said that since the start of the Iranian attacks, a total of 205 ballistic missiles have been detected, of which 190 were destroyed, 13 fell into the sea, and 2 landed within the UAE. During the same period, 1,184 Iranian drones were detected, with 1,110 intercepted, while 74 drones fell within the country’s territory.
Prominent Islamic scholar Ali al-Qaradaghi, president of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, has issued a religious ruling urging an immediate halt to fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan during the holy month of Ramadan.
In a statement, Qaradaghi said that fighting between Muslim nations contradicts Islamic teachings and stressed that the lives of Muslims must be protected. He described the suspension of hostilities during Ramadan as a religious obligation, calling on leaders of both countries to stop the conflict before the last ten days of the holy month.
The scholar also urged the two sides to use the ceasefire as an opportunity to begin dialogue after Eid, noting that countries such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey could help mediate.
Qaradaghi emphasized the importance of unity among Muslim nations and warned against internal conflicts that weaken the broader Muslim world.
Hundreds, including civilians, have been killed and injured in fighting between Afghanistan and Pakistan that began over a week ago.
Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, said during a telephone conversation with Amir Khan Muttaqi, the foreign minister of the Islamic Emirate, that differences between Kabul and Islamabad should be resolved through political and diplomatic means.
According to a statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry, the two sides also discussed the prospects for reducing military and political tensions in relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
During the call, the Russian foreign minister also discussed the regional situation, including the negative and destabilizing consequences of the recent attacks on Iran.
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