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Taliban Meets Afghan Gov’t Delegation in Saudi Arabia: Report
Representatives from the Taliban met an Afghan government delegation in Saudi Arabia this week to discuss security ahead of next month’s parliamentary elections and a limited prisoner release, three Taliban officials said as reported by Reuters.
The upcoming parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held on October 20. However, insecurity is considered to be a major challenge for the upcoming elections.
The government and the international community seek to ensure the election passes off smoothly and without violence.
“They requested us to help them conduct peaceful elections,” said one of the Taliban leaders.
“The Afghan delegation has agreed with us on the release of prisoners,” he said, adding that some prisoners facing minor charges had already been released and officials had divided up others into three categories, depending on their importance, for future release.
According to Reuters, President Ashraf Ghani’s office and the U.S. State Department declined to comment. No comment was available from Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s main spokesman.
Citing Taliban representatives on condition of anonymity, the report said that the meeting in Saudi Arabia came after plans for another meeting with American officials broke down over U.S. demands for a three-month ceasefire.
“Some of our senior people were not in the favor of holding talks with the Afghan government as until now we were calling them puppets and refused to meet them,” said one senior Taliban leader in Qatar as quoted by Reuters.
“But our proposed meeting with the Americans failed to take place due to certain reasons,” he said.
The officials said U.S. demands for a ceasefire was something the leadership could not agree to. As a result, no formal meeting was held although there were informal contacts.
“Our agreement for holding the meeting was only to discuss prisoner exchange and the removal of our people from the UN black list so they can travel,” said one senior Taliban leader from the movement’s political office in Qatar as cited by Reuters.
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Mullah Baradar discusses creation of railway with Kazakh deputy PM
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, deputy prime minister for economic affairs has met with Erik Zhumangarin, the Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, and discussed the establishment of a railway network from Kazakhstan to Pakistan through Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, the deputy PM’s office said in a statement.
During the meeting, Baradar emphasized the need to sign agreements to solve the banking problems of traders from both countries, the creation of Afghan-Kazakh joint companies, and the facilitation of visas for Afghan traders.
According to the statement, the Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan said that the Kazakh government intends to establish a joint chamber of industry and commerce and a joint trade and labor group between the two countries, and is ready to cooperate with Afghanistan in the sectors of e-governance, industry, higher education, education, health, and banking.
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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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