In a bid to garner support for Afghanistan’s inclusion in this year’s climate change summit, COP30, the head of the National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA), Mati-ul-Haq Khalis, this week met with Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to Kabul Ilham Mammadov.

At the meeting, Khalis noted Azerbaijan had successfully hosted COP29 last year and urged Azerbaijan to support Afghanistan’s wish to actively participate in COP30, which takes place in November in Brazil.

The two officials discussed the impact of climate change on their shared geographic area and Khalis emphasised the importance of enhancing bilateral cooperation in the field of environmental protection.

Mammadov, in turn, highlighted the importance of including Afghanistan in global climate processes and underscored the country’s vulnerability to climate change.

He noted the devastating impact of recent floods in Afghanistan and added that Azerbaijan is ready to share its expertise in renewable energy as it gradually phases out the use of fossil fuels.

This comes after Khalis’ meeting last week with Kazakhstan’s Chargé d’Affaires, Gaziz Akbasov, where he also called for Afghanistan to be included in the year’s summit.

Highlighting shared challenges and commonalities between Afghanistan and Kazakhstan, Khalis called for enhanced bilateral cooperation in areas such as climate adaptation, water and natural resource management, the resumption of stalled environmental projects in Afghanistan, capacity-building for NEPA staff, and the signing of cooperation agreements.

“Kazakhstan has valuable experience in these fields,” Khalis said. “We can greatly benefit from their expertise in responding to climate change.”

He underscored that Afghanistan, despite contributing minimally to global greenhouse gas emissions, is among the countries most severely affected by climate change.

Khalis stressed that Afghan voices must be included in global climate discussions, particularly at COP30.

For his part, Chargé d’Affaires Akbasov reaffirmed Kazakhstan’s support for Afghanistan, saying: “Our mission is to assist Afghanistan in humanitarian and infrastructure development. We will strive to ensure Afghan voices are heard at international forums because climate change and environmental challenges are shared across the region and require collective action.”

Afghanistan was invited as an observer to COP29, marking the first time the Islamic Emirate attended a climate summit since they regained power in 2021.

The IEA government has been actively seeking to participate in COP summits, arguing that their political isolation shouldn’t prevent them from engaging in international climate discussions.

More than 250,000 Afghan refugees returned home from neighboring Pakistan and Iran in April, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported late Sunday.

“Among them are women and girls, who face an uncertain future with restrictions on education, jobs and freedom of movement. Any returns must be voluntary, safe and dignified,” the UNHCR said in a post on X.

Nearly seven million Afghan refugees are living outside the country – a large percentage of whom live in Pakistan and Iran.

Last year, the Pakistani government said it would expel as many as three million Afghans this year. Iran have also called on undocumented Afghans living in the country to return home.

However, with the high levels of poverty and unemployment in Afghanistan, the returning refugees are in urgent need of assistance.

Many refugees who have returned from Pakistan have had to leave mostly everything behind, including houses, businesses and possessions.

Transit camps have been set up at the border crossings to accommodate the return refugees, and international organizations, along with the Islamic Emirate, have been striving to ease the return of the refugees as much as possible.

However, funding cuts in humanitarian assistance has had a huge impact on the level of assistance that organizations can provide.

Urgent funding appeal

Last week, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned that an even deeper humanitarian crisis is looming in Afghanistan as tens of thousands of Afghan refugees return from neighbouring countries.

UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch said that the agency urgently needs $71 million to assist those arriving home. Baloch said these refugees face desperate conditions once in the country.

In April, more than 251,000 Afghans returned in adverse circumstances from Iran and Pakistan, including over 96,000 who were deported, Baloch said.

He said the UNHCR continues to advocate with the governments of Iran and Pakistan that returns to Afghanistan must be voluntary, safe and dignified. “Forcing or putting pressure on Afghans to return is unsustainable and could destabilize the region,” he said.

“While UNHCR recognizes the many challenges – including economic pressures – facing these countries that have hosted millions of Afghans for decades, we have also consistently shared our concerns that regardless of their legal status, people forced to return to Afghanistan may encounter serious protection risks,” Baloch said.

Since 2023, more than 3.4 million Afghans have returned or been deported from Iran and Pakistan, including over 1.5 million in 2024 alone.

The UNHCR said such mass returns have strained the capacity of many provinces in Afghanistan and exacerbated the risk of further internal displacement.

The organization also warned that there has been new displacement into Iran and Pakistan, and heightened risks of onward movements towards Europe.

In 2024, Afghans became the largest group (41 percent) of irregular arrivals from the Asia-Pacific region into Europe.

Bayern Munich have been confirmed as winners of the 34th Bundesliga title after their rivals Bayer Leverkusen drew 2-2 at Freiburg on Sunday. The success gave Harry Kane his first major trophy. 

The Bavarians, who had won 11 consecutive Bundesliga titles in a record league run between 2013 and 2023, had seen Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen race to a domestic league and cup double last season without a single defeat in either competition, AFP reported. 

New Bayern coach Vincent Kompany had his work cut out with Bayern urgently looking for direction after a turbulent period under his predecessor Thomas Tuchel, who left the club at the end of last season.

Unlike some former Bayern coaches, including Tuchel, Kompany lacked experience coaching a big club with the former Belgium international having previously coached Anderlecht and Burnley.

Bayern bosses were prepared to take the risk and it paid off with Kompany quickly establishing control in the changing room.

Bayern were desperate for a good start in the current season in order to put an early marker down in the title race and they bagged four straight wins to kick off the campaign, before carving out a 1-1 draw against the reigning champions.

With Leverkusen no longer invincible this season and lacking last year’s consistency, Bayern gradually pulled away and by the 11th matchday had a six-point advantage, having shaken off Leipzig, Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Dortmund as possible title rivals.

The Bavarians were lethal in attack with Jamal Musiala and Harry Kane in top form but struggled with their backline throughout the season.

A string of injuries in recent weeks that sidelined several key defenders compounded the problem and Saturday’s 3-3 draw with RB Leipzig took their goals conceded tally to 32, an average of one goal per league match this season.

But Kompany’s team have been lethal up front, bagging 93 goals in 32 matches.

With 24 goals, Kane was once more Bayern’s guarantee in attack with the England captain looking set to become the first player in Bundesliga history to be crowned top scorer in both his first two seasons in the league.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest strikers of his generation, England’s all-time top scorer and second on the all-time Premier League scorers’ list, Kane had won a hatful of individual awards.

He had, however, no single team trophy to show for his efforts after 400-odd goals for clubs and country and with talk of a ‘Kane title curse’ developing over the years.

So his move to Bayern, Germany’s record champions and six-time European champions, was all about finally adding trophies to his goal-scoring records and fulfilling his title-winning ambitions.

The Bavarians failed to get past the quarter-finals in the Champions League after their 4-3 aggregate loss to Italy’s Inter Milan last month and they also lost to Leverkusen in the German Cup round of 16, leaving the league title as their only possible trophy for the season.

But they would not be denied in the league as they kept second-placed Leverkusen at bay in the final sprint to the finish line.