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Pakistan invites Karzai to attend ‘special’ Afghan conference
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Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said Pakistan is continuing its efforts to achieve stability and security in Afghanistan.
In a tweet, he said Prime Minister Imran Khan had a telephonic conversation with former Afghan President Hamid Karzai and invited him to attend a “special” conference on Afghanistan situation the country would organise soon.
Geo News reported that the information minister said that key Afghan leaders, including Hamid Karzai, have been invited to attend the proposed conference.
The recent development will give rise to new hopes for a solution to Afghanistan’s problems, he added.
According to a report in The News, the proposed conference will take place from July 17 to 19 and several Afghan leaders have already confirmed their participation.
Afghan special presidential envoy for Pakistan Mohammed Umer Daudzai and former finance minister Omar Zakhilwal have both confirmed to VOA they will attend the meeting. However, Daudzai, said the meeting “dates are still being debated.”
Hamid Karzai, a former Afghan president, Salahuddin Rabbani, a former foreign minister, Omar Zakhilwal, a former finance minister, Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq, a senior leader of ethnic Hazara minority community, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a former warlord-turned politician, and Ahmad Wali Masoud, are among the invitees, the sources said.
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Domestic tourists visit Nuristan, Afghanistan’s eastern winter wonderland
Most of Nuristan is covered by mountainous forests and the entire province was designated a protected national park in 2020.
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The picturesque mountain province of Nuristan, in eastern Afghanistan, has once again been transformed into a winter wonderland with good snowfalls having been recorded.
Located on the southern slopes of the Hindu Kush mountains, Nuristan is the least populated province in the country with an estimated population of only about 170,000.
Most of Nuristan is covered by mountainous forests and the entire province was designated a protected national park in 2020.
While some visitors manage to reach remote villages, this is a huge challenge given the poor condition of the roads.
Local officials say they are trying to rebuild the roads.
Local officials have also said they are trying to boost tourism by creating facilities for visitors.
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Lavrov, Aragchi: Afghanistan situation of particular interest to both Russia and Iran
Tehran and Moscow are holding joint consultations on the situation in Afghanistan in various formats, alongside China and Pakistan
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Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi said in a joint press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday that developments in Afghanistan are of particular importance to both countries.
He also emphasized that Tehran and Moscow are holding joint consultations on the situation in Afghanistan in various formats, alongside China and Pakistan.
Lavrov said after meeting with Aragchi that the two diplomats discussed the success of the economic forum held in Iran in January “and discussed our relations with Afghanistan, with which we cooperate in a variety of formats, including the Moscow Format and a meeting between the countries neighbouring Afghanistan and the Big Four that includes China, Iran, Russia, and Pakistan.”
Lavrov was in Iran Tuesday for consultations with high-ranking Iranian officials.
Lavrov’s Iranian counterpart, Aragchi said the Afghanistan situation has been of close interest to both countries over the years.
“The developments in Afghanistan are of interest to us and Russia. Our talks have always continued in this regard, and we intend to consult each other more on this issue,” he said.
Experts have highlighted the role of Iran and Russia in Afghanistan’s foreign policy as important, saying that Kabul’s good relations with neighboring countries and the region can be constructive for the future of Afghanistan.
Although Russia and Iran have not yet recognized the Islamic Emirate, they have maintained close relations with the Islamic Emirate government.
Tehran has consistently emphasized resolving the issue of Afghanistan’s legitimacy through regional consensus and full political inclusion in Afghanistan.
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US, Ukraine agree to terms of critical minerals deal
One of the sources familiar with the deal said future weapons shipments are still being discussed between Washington and Kyiv.
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The U.S. and Ukraine have agreed on the terms of a draft minerals deal central to Kyiv’s push to win Washington’s support as President Donald Trump seeks to rapidly end the war with Russia, two sources with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday.
A source familiar with the contents of the draft agreement said that it does not specify any U.S. security guarantees or continued flow of weapons but says that the United States wants Ukraine to be “free, sovereign and secure.”
One of the sources familiar with the deal said future weapons shipments are still being discussed between Washington and Kyiv.
Trump told reporters that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wants to come to Washington on Friday to sign a “very big deal.” This came after the two leaders exchanged hostile words last week.
The U.S. president, who has cast the deal as a repayment for billions of dollars in aid to Kyiv, also said some form of peacekeeping troops are needed in Ukraine if an agreement to end the conflict is struck. Moscow, which launched an invasion of Ukraine three years ago, has refused to accept any deployment of NATO forces.
Some European countries have said they would be willing to send peacekeeping forces to Ukraine. Trump said on Monday that Moscow would accept such peacekeepers, but the Kremlin denied that on Tuesday.
Trump’s rush to impose an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine and his lurch toward Moscow has stoked fears of far-reaching U.S. concessions to Russian President Vladimir Putin that could undermine security in Ukraine and Europe and alter the geopolitical landscape.
Trump last week falsely called Zelenskiy an unpopular “dictator” who needed to cut a quick peace deal or lose his country. The Ukrainian leader said the U.S. president was living in a “disinformation bubble.”
Officials on both sides have agreed to the draft and advised it should be signed, the sources said.
The deal could open up Ukraine’s vast mineral wealth to the U.S.
“What we’re doing is now we’re saying, look, we want to be secured,” Trump said. “The American taxpayer now is going to get their money back, plus.”
Zelenskiy refused to sign an earlier draft of a minerals agreement as Washington sought rights to $500 billion in Ukraine’s natural wealth. Kyiv protested it had received far less than that in U.S. aid and the deal lacked the security guarantees Ukraine needs.
Under the terms of a draft minerals agreement, according to sources familiar with its contents, the United States and Ukraine would establish a Reconstruction Investment Fund to collect and reinvest revenues from Ukrainian sources including minerals, hydrocarbons and other extractable materials.
Ukraine would contribute to the fund 50% of the revenue minus operating expenses and continue until the contributions reach the sum of $500 billion. The United States would provide a long-term financial commitment to the development of a “stable and economically prosperous Ukraine.”
Asked what Ukraine would get in return for the minerals deal, Trump cited what he said was $350 billion already provided by the U.S. “and lots of … military equipment and the right to fight on.”
Scott Anderson, a fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, said that while the minerals deal would look like “a kind of piracy” to much of the world it is necessary to get buy-in from Trump and Republican lawmakers.
“They say this gives him (Trump) real skin in the game. I think there is real logic to that,” Anderson said.
“I hear that he’s coming on Friday,” Trump told reporters. “Certainly it’s okay with me if he’d like to. And he would like to sign it together with me.”
European officials have been left flat-footed by Trump’s decisions to hold talks on ending the war in Ukraine with Russia, spurning both Kyiv and Europe, and by his administration’s warning that the U.S. was no longer primarily focused on Europe’s security.
A White House meeting could give Zelenskiy a chance to make his case for continued U.S. support directly to Trump, who last week falsely accused Kyiv of starting the war.
Ukraine has deposits of 22 of the 34 minerals identified by the European Union as critical, according to Ukrainian data. They include industrial and construction materials, ferroalloy, precious and non-ferrous metals, and some rare earth elements.
Ukraine’s reserves of graphite, a key component in electric vehicle batteries and nuclear reactors, represent 20% of global resources.
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