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Senior UK diplomat reaffirms commitment to Afghanistan
The UK Foreign Office’s Political Director, Simon Gass, has visited Kabul to reaffirm his countries enduring commitment to Afghanistan and support to National Unity Government (NUG), UK embassy in Kabul announced on Tuesday.
Mr. Simon has quoted saying as, “I came here at the Foreign Secretary’s request because two major international conferences concerning Afghanistan are taking place this year. The NATO Summit and Brussels conference will reaffirm the international community’s commitment and determine the future size and shape of international support to Afghanistan”.
According to the statement released UK envoy has expressed strong support for the NUG’s commitment to secure an enduring peace and has sought an update from Afghan government on progress in delivering its reform commitments ahead of the NATO Warsaw Summit and Brussels Development Conference later this year.
Mr. Simon has met President Ghani, Chief Executive Abdullah, Foreign Minister Rabbani, Acting Defense Minister Stanekzai and National Security Adviser Atmar discussing a broad range of issues including the security and economic situation in Afghanistan, the statement added.
UK political director has reiterated the UK’s support for an Afghan-led peace process and has welcomed the progress made in the Quadrilateral talks.
The statement further says that the UK has welcomed President Ghani’s efforts to tackle corruption saying,” Afghanistan today has huge potential. The country has a National Unity Government that’s committed to achieving peace, reform and self-reliance and which has the international community’s full support. That’s why the UK is spending hundreds of millions of dollars in Afghanistan on security assistance, development, economic growth and humanitarian aid.”
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Girls’ education is a ‘vital issue’ for Afghanistan: Karzai
Former president Hamid Karzai said in a meeting with Iran’s ambassador and special representative, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, that education of girls was a “vital issue” for Afghanistan.
Karzai said he appreciated Iran’s cooperation and its standing with the Afghan people, especially Iran’s contributions to education in Afghanistan.
During the meeting, Karzai said peace and stability in the region are in the interest of all regional countries.
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Uzbekistan’s humanitarian aid arrives in Balkh
A shipment of humanitarian aid from Uzbekistan was handed over on Thursday to the local officials of Balkh province in the trade port of Hairatan.
Local authorities said the aid, which includes flour, oil, wheat, sugar and meat, has been handed over by Uzbekistan’s Surkhandarya governor to the governor of Balkh.
The governor of Surkhandarya stated the purpose of sending this aid was to support the people of Afghanistan and stressed the need for the development of good relations between the two countries.
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Afghanistan’s problems caused more damage to Pakistan than 3 wars with India: Durrani
Islamabad’s special envoy for Afghanistan Asif Durrani said on Wednesday that Pakistan has suffered more due to Afghanistan’s internal situation than Pakistan has suffered in three wars with India in terms of blood spilt and finances drained.
Durrani said at a one-day International Conference titled “Pakistan in the Emerging Geopolitical Landscape”, which was organized by the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) and the German Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), that over 80,000 Pakistanis died in the two decades of the War on Terror and that his country was still counting its dead and injured.
“After the withdrawal of NATO forces, it was hoped that peace in Afghanistan would bring peace to the region. However, such expectations were short-lived,” he said.
He also stated that attacks by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant group on Pakistan’s border areas increased by 65 percent, while suicide attacks increased by 500 percent.
“The TTP’s enhanced attacks on Pakistan while using Afghan soil have been a serious concern for Pakistan. Another worrying aspect is the participation of Afghan nationals in these attacks,” he said.
Durrani also said Pakistan had suffered geopolitically since the Soviet Union invaded the neighboring country.
“The post-9/11 world order has negatively impacted Pakistan. Apart from losing 80,000 citizens’ lives, including 8,000 law enforcement agency personnel, the country’s economic opportunity cost is estimated at $150 billion,” Durrani said.
Talking about the future outlook for Pakistan in the regional context, Durrani said that while “our eastern neighbor is likely to continue with its anti-Pakistan pursuits, the western border poses an avoidable irritant in the short to medium term.”
However, he said Pakistan can overcome its difficulties with Afghanistan, including the TTP challenge.
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