Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar officially launched construction work on Tuesday of the second lane of the Kabul-Ghazni highway.

He said one of the Islamic Emirates’ priorities is to improve transport infrastructure in the country.

The double carriageway will stretch 111 km once completed and will cost an estimated 3 billion afghanis (AFN).

This highway will become a toll road and toll fees will be used to complete the project, which will take about three and a half years, he said.

According to Baradar, dozens of jobs will be created through it and trade between Kabul and Ghazni will be strengthened.

He also mentioned the Kabul-Kandahar highway, which connects Kabul with the southern provinces, and said this route will help strengthen trade between neighbors Pakistan and Iran.

The Kabul-Ghazni highway will meanwhile have nine bridges and 594 culverts once complete.

Baradar also called on officials involved in the road project to ensure standards are maintained and a good quality road is built.

The Islamic Emirate’s supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada visited northern, northeastern and northwestern provinces of the country recently and met with officials, religious scholars, and ethnic elders where he emphasized the importance of unity among the people.

He said if there is no justice, the system will not survive, Arg quoted him as saying in a statement.

In a voice message, Akhundzada said in a meeting with officials of Balkh province that if there is no justice and if personal needs are put first, the Islamic system will not survive.

“If there is oppression, terror, personal orders and the powerful person is not held accountable, poor people are held accountable and things are mediated and justice is not applied, this system will not remain,” said Akhundzada.

He also stressed the need for unity and solidarity among the people in Badghis, Faryab, Jawzjan, Sar-e-Pul, Balkh, Samangan, Baghlan, Kunduz, Takhar and Badakhshan provinces in another meeting with officials, religious scholars, and tribal elders.

Hamdullah Fitrat, IEA’s deputy spokesman, stated that Akhundzada asked the meeting participants to work for unity among the country's ethnic groups.

The Afghan embassy in Norway has confirmed it will close its doors on Thursday, September 12, at the request of the Norwegian government.

The announcement comes just a day after the embassy in London announced it had been given notice by the British government to close by September 27.

Both embassies were being run by diplomats appointed by the former republic government.

According to the Oslo embassy, all embassy property will be handed over to the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

No details were given as to why Norway ordered the closure of the embassy.

Afghan embassy staff at numerous missions around the world continued to operate after the fall of the previous government.

While no country has officially recognized the Islamic Emirate government, a number of them in the Middle East and Asia have accepted Islamic Emirate diplomatic representation.

Embassies in the West, appointed by the Ashraf Ghani government have mostly continued to operate.

However, at the end of July, the Islamic Emirate announced that it no longer recognizes Afghanistan’s diplomatic missions set up by the former, Western-backed government and that they will not honor passports, visas and other documents issued by diplomats associated with the previous administration.

The Islamic Emirate’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in July that documents issued by missions in London, Berlin, Belgium, Bonn, Switzerland, Austria, France, Italy, Greece, Poland, Australia, Sweden, Canada and Norway are no longer accepted