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Time running out for Afghan peace process, more efforts needed – EU envoy

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(Last Updated On: June 16, 2021)

The European Union’s envoy for Afghanistan said on Wednesday time was running out for Afghan peace negotiations and more needed to be done to boost the discussions as international forces withdraw from the war-torn nation.

Afghan government and Taliban negotiators have met in Qatar’s capital Doha over the past two weeks to discuss the peace process after a pause when negotiations largely stalled earlier this year.

Talks began in September but the already-slowing negotiations largely broke off in April, when the United States announced it would withdraw its forces by Sept. 11, after a May 1 deadline the Trump administration had agreed with the Taliban.

“Time is getting shorter as we speak,” Tomas Niklasson, the EU’s acting special envoy for Afghanistan, told Reuters during a visit to Pakistan’s capital. “There has been no or very little progress on substance, so from that perspective more has to be done.”

Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said on Twitter that on Tuesday groups from both negotiation teams had met to discuss “recalibration of order and sequence of talks sessions.”

But Niklasson said that to show true progress, substantive proposals needed to be put on the table on each side’s plans for the country and the outcome of the talks, which the Taliban had not yet provided.

“It’s quite possible that a proposal from the Taliban might be maximalist, maybe they would just put an Islamic Emirate on the table, which is perfectly fine for negotiations and then you can see where you can make compromises and compromises will have to be made by both sides,” he said.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the group did have a written plan but would not share it publicly or with foreigners and would save it for substantive negotiations.

The envoy held meetings with officials in Islamabad this week and said he was confident that Pakistan saw it in its interests to encourage a negotiated peace settlement in neighbouring Afghanistan, but reiterated Pakistan should use all leverage it to had to encourage the Taliban to deliver a written peace proposal.

Pakistan’s ties to the Taliban have been criticised in the past by the West but foreign capitals including Washington have in recent years acknowledged Pakistan for working to bring the insurgents to the negotiating table.

Pakistan’s foreign minister has said in recent days that Pakistan was fully supporting the Afghan peace process but did not want to be considered the “scapegoat” and blamed if negotiations fell apart.

“I see so far little progress in terms of (the Taliban) putting a proposal on the table but whether that is because insufficient leverage is there or because the leverage that is there hasn’t been used … fully I don’t really know,” Niklasson said.

“But I have confidence that Pakistan realises the importance and the urgency of the situation and that it is in its own interest to use the leverage it has.”

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More needs to be done to boost local industry, says Kabir

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(Last Updated On: April 17, 2024)

The deputy prime minister for policy, Mawlavi Abdul Kabir, met with Nooruddin Azizi, Acting Minister of Commerce and Industry, at Sapidar Palace on Tuesday and discussed issues around the quality of domestic products and the need to grow and develop the industrial sector.

Azizi said that good trade relations with neighboring countries has resulted in stable prices of goods in the country.

He said the Ministry of Commerce and Industry works closely with the private sector. As a result, the private sector functions in a befitting manner and the Islamic Emirate has provided necessary facilities.

Azizi said that based on the Islamic Emirate’s good economic policies, there has been a significant development in the import/export sector in the country.

Kabir in turn voiced appreciation for efforts by the leadership of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and said: “The unprecedented efforts of the IEA’s administrations and the stability of the Afghan currency caused the price of food ingredients to remain in the right state and our people also be able to buy essential materials.”

He emphasized the need to work for a balance in trade with neighboring countries, and said more efforts were needed to improve the quality of domestic products and to grow the sector.

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Russia and Tajikistan hold joint military drills along Afghanistan border

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(Last Updated On: April 17, 2024)

Russia and Tajikistan conducted a joint four-day military exercise along the border with Afghanistan in order to be prepared for any “potential threats”, Tajik media reported this week.

Russian military personnel from the 201st military base in Tajikistan participated in this exercise. Reports stated military personnel practiced various combat tactics, especially tactics to counter terrorist groups that illegally enter Tajikistan.

This comes amid repeated concerns expressed by Afghanistan’s neighbors about what they claim are terrorist threats originating from Afghanistan.

The Islamic Emirate has not yet commented on the drills but has repeatedly denied the presence of terrorist groups in the country. The IEA has also continuously said no militant group will be allowed to threaten another country from Afghanistan.

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Media Violation Commission bans two TV channels

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(Last Updated On: April 16, 2024)

The Media Violations Commission has ordered Noor and Barya TV channels to stop broadcasting and to appear in court, state-run Bakhtar News Agency reported on Tuesday.

ّIt is said that the decision against the channels was taken for “not observing the principles of journalism.”

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