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Pakistan urges troops withdrawal be done ‘responsibly’
Pakistan government said on Sunday that a foreign troop withdrawal from Afghanistan should be done in a responsible way in order to avoid a “vacuum”.
Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Pakistan believes “that the withdrawal of troops should be orderly and responsible so as not to create a vacuum”.
This was in response to the Taliban’s statement Friday warning of “death and destruction” if US troops fail to leave by the May 1 deadline as set out in the US-Taliban agreement signed in Doha in February last year.
“Pakistan has always upheld that there is no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan.
“We have supported an inclusive, broad-based and comprehensive dialogue among the Afghan parties to resolve their differences,” Chaudhri said.
“Pakistan believes that the Doha process provides an historic opportunity to achieve such a lasting political solution.”
This comes after the Taliban on Friday reacted strongly against recent remarks by US President Joe Biden on extending troop presence and after Germany announced it was extending its military footprint in the country.
In its statement, the Taliban warned: “In such a case, the Islamic Emirate [Taliban] – as a representative of the believing, valiant and Mujahid Afghan nations – will be compelled to defend its religion and homeland and continue its ‘Jihad’ and armed struggle against foreign forces to liberate its country. All responsibility for the prolongation of war, death and destruction will be on the shoulders of those who committed this violation.”
While the US has not yet made a decision on whether to withdraw its forces by May 1, and nor has NATO indicated its position, Germany announced it has agreed to extend its Afghanistan mission into 2022.
German lawmakers approved the new mandate late Thursday which allows the German military to keep up to 1,300 troops in Afghanistan as part of a NATO mission until Jan 31, 2022.
The German government has warned that a premature withdrawal of NATO troops could jeopardize peace talks, and that NATO troops would need to prepare for Taliban violence if they stay beyond the end of April.
On Thursday, the U.S. President Joe Biden said that it would be “hard” to withdraw the last U.S. troops from Afghanistan by a May 1 deadline, but he added that he did not think they still would be there next year.
During the news conference Biden said it would be hard to meet the May 1 deadline to withdraw the last 3,500 U.S. troops “just in terms of tactical reasons.”
He apparently was referring to the enormous logistical challenges of pulling out the roughly 10,000 American and NATO troops and their equipment within the next six weeks.
Biden was asked if it was possible that there still would be U.S troops in Afghanistan next year. “I can’t picture that being the case,” he responded.
The Taliban have also indicated they could resume attacks on foreign troops if Biden does not meet the May 1 deadline.
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Iran, Pakistan leaders raise concerns over ‘terrorist groups’ in Afghanistan
Following a two-day official visit to Pakistan, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif issued a joint statement emphasizing the need to further expand commercial and economic cooperation and transform the common border of the two countries from a “border of peace” to “border of prosperity”.
The two leaders also strongly condemned aggressions and crimes of Israel in Gaza, and demanded an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, as well as unimpeded humanitarian access to the besieged people of Gaza.
Numerous other issues were also discussed but on the topic of Afghanistan, they jointly declared their commitment to the development of Afghanistan as a peaceful, united, independent country free from the threats of terrorism and drug trafficking.
According to the statement the two countries pointed out that the existence of terrorist organizations in Afghanistan is a serious threat to the security of the region and the world.
The two sides stressed their desire to strengthen cooperation in the field of fighting terrorism and ensuring security and creating a united front against terrorism.
They also discussed the importance of coordinating regional and international efforts to ensure security and stability in the region.
“While respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Afghanistan, the two sides recognized that increasing participation of all strata of Afghans in basic decision-making will lead to the strengthening of peace and stability in this country,” the statement read.
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Over 1,000 Afghan refugees forced out of Pakistan in one day
The Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations (MoRR) says over 1,000 Afghan migrants were forcibly returned from Pakistan on Tuesday through Spin Boldak border crossing in Kandahar province, the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry stated that based on information provided by the Spin Boldak Kandahar border command, these returnees comprised 191 families, totalling 998 people.
In addition, three migrants released from Pakistani prisons were also returned, according to the statement.
The statement added that after registering the returnees, the refugees were referred to the offices of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the World Food Program (WFP) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Each family received 10,000 afghanis – paid to them by the Islamic Emirate.
In another statement, the ministry said that 2,783 migrants living in Iran voluntarily and forcibly returned to the country during this week.
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Afghanistan’s minister of transport and aviation attends regional meeting in Uzbekistan
Hamidullah Akhundzadeh, acting Minister of Transport and Aviation, headed a delegation to Uzbekistan for a ‘Six-Party Corridor’ meeting that included representatives from Afghanistan, Russia, Belarus, Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
On the sidelines of this meeting the Afghanistan delegation discussed trade through the corridor with the other five relevant countries.
According to the ministry of transport and aviation, Akhundzadeh met with the deputy ministers of transport of Russia and Belarus.
He also discussed ways to expand transit between Afghanistan and Russia; and Afghanistan and Belarus, and provide the necessary facilities to achieve this.
The ministry added that the acting minister had a bilateral meeting with the Minister of Transport and the Special Representative of the President of Uzbekistan on Afghanistan and discussed the expansion of road transport between the two countries.
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