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Pakistan urges look into ‘meltdown’ of Afghan forces as Taliban advances

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Pakistan on Monday said the international community needed to look into the “meltdown” of Afghan security forces in the face of Taliban offensives across Afghanistan, instead of blaming Pakistan for the fast-deteriorating situation, Reuters reported.

Taliban fighters have swiftly gained territory across Afghanistan since May, including six provincial capitals in the last three days, as international forces near a complete withdrawal from the country after 20 years of fighting.

“The capacity-building, the training, the equipment … where is it?” Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi asked at a news conference, referring to resources spent by other countries, particularly the United States, on bolstering Afghan national forces.

“Issues of governance and the meltdown of Afghan national defence forces need to be looked into,” he said.

Pakistan cannot be held responsible for the failure of others, he said.

Kabul and several western governments say Pakistan’s support for the Taliban allowed it to weather 20 years of war after being pushed from power in 2001 by a U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan. The group today controls more territory that at any point since 2001, Reuters reported.

Pakistan denies supporting the Taliban. Qureshi said Islamabad was not taking sides in Afghanistan.

“The lack of will to fight, the capitulation that we are seeing in Afghanistan … can we be held responsible for that? No we cannot,” Qureshi said, adding that Pakistan supported a political solution to bring peace to Afghanistan, Reuters reported.

He said Pakistan had been instrumental in bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table with the United States and facilitated the resultant agreement between the two in Doha last year.

Pakistan, Qureshi said, had also helped convene peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government in September last year, which have since stalled.

Qureshi said Islamabad was concerned at the violence and the lack of progress in the talks, saying that Pakistan had most to lose from an unstable Afghanistan as a direct neighbour.

Questioning the pullout of U.S. forces, Qureshi said Pakistan thought the withdrawal would be tied to the progress in the peace talks.

Other regional countries, including Afghanistan, have also blamed what they termed a hasty and unconditional withdrawal of foreign troops for the success of the Taliban, Reuters reported.

Qureshi said there would be a meeting in Doha on Wednesday of the “Troika”, a platform to discuss Afghanistan led by the United States, China, Russia.

The meeting is three weeks before the Aug. 31 date that Washington set for the official withdrawal of its military forces in Afghanistan.

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Muttaqi urges Oman to release Afghan prisoners

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Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Amir Khan Muttaqi, during his visit to Oman, has called on the country to reduce the prison terms of Afghan prisoners and release them.

According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday, Muttaqi met with several officials of Oman including the Minister of the Royal Office in the Sultanate of Oman, the officials of the Chamber of Commerce and Investment, and the Minister of Endowments and Religious Affairs.

He called for the start of direct flights between the two countries and Oman’s coordination with the Afghan Embassy in providing consular services to Afghans residing in Oman.

He also called for increased trade between the two countries.

Muttaqi told the Minister of Endowments and Religious Affairs of Oman that the experiences of the two countries in the field of mosques, pilgrimage and endowments should be shared with each other. He also called for Oman’s assistance in the reconstruction of mosques in Afghanistan.

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Greece at UN: Any engagement with IEA cannot be detrimental to women

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Greece’s representative said at a United Nations meeting Tuesday that the Islamic Emirate continues gender discrimination in Afghanistan, and any engagement with it cannot be detrimental to women.

The meeting was held under the theme “Afghanistan to New York: Afghan women calling for action,” a side event of the 69th session of Commission on the Status of Women.

A Greek official said at the meeting that the Islamic Emirate has tried to erase women from the public life by enacting the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Law.

He also said that the restrictions on the work of women in the United Nations and NGOs have had a severe repercussion on delivering humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan.

The official asked Islamic Emirate to end the “systematic violation” of women’s rights in Afghanistan.

Isabelle Rome, the Ambassador at Large for Human Rights for France, said that depriving women’s rights is depriving the rights of half of humanity and France will not remain silent about it.

Australian Ambassador for Gender Equality, Stephanie Copus Campbell noted that Australia, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands have initiated proceeds against the Islamic Emirate for women’s rights violations.

In September last year, the four nations had announced that they would take the Islamic Emirate to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) if it does not improve women’s rights in Afghanistan.

The Islamic Emirate has said that the rights of women in Afghanistan are ensured according to Sharia and countries should not interfere in the internal affairs of Afghanistan.

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India: Pakistan should not blame others for its own failures

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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of India has strongly rejected Pakistan’s accusation of supporting terrorism, asking its neighbor “to look inwards instead of pointing fingers and shifting the blame for its own internal problems and failures onto others.”

“We strongly reject the baseless allegations made by Pakistan. The whole world knows where the epicenter of global terrorism lies. Pakistan should look inwards instead of pointing fingers and shifting the blame for its own internal problems and failures onto others,” Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of India, said.

Recently, militants affiliated with the Balochistan Liberation Army group killed 21 people in an attack on a passenger train in Balochistan province.

Shafqat Ali Khan, the spokesperson of Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that India is sponsoring terrorism against Pakistan.

He also said that the attackers were in “direct communications with Afghanistan-based planners throughout the incident.”

The Pakistan Army has also linked Afghanistan to the incident.

However, the Islamic Emirate has denied the claim.

Abdul Qahar Balkhi, the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement urged Pakistan “to focus on resolving their own security and internal problems instead of such irresponsible remarks.”

 

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