The Ministry of Public Works of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has launched a 40 million afghani (AFN) project to rehabilitate 45 kilometres of the main road in Panjshir province, aiming to improve road conditions and facilitate safer travel.

The project was officially inaugurated in the presence of Panjshir Governor Mohammad Agha Hakim, provincial Public Works Director Mohammad Fahim Muwahid, local officials and tribal elders.

The rehabilitation work begins in the Dalan Sang area of Shutul district and extends to Doabi in Baharak Bazaarak. It includes repairing and patching the road surface, constructing gabion retaining walls, building culverts and roadside drainage channels, as well as other related works.

According to the Ministry of Public Works, the project has been contracted to the private sector. Its implementation is expected to prevent further deterioration of the road and ease transportation difficulties for residents.

“In Afghanistan, we will continue dialogue with the de facto authorities on the rights of women and girls to education and work, based on Islamic values, and support the humanitarian and economic needs of the Afghan people,” he said addressing the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers in Baghdad, Iraq.

At the meeting, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also said the situation in Afghanistan, Sudan and Somalia was challenging and should be at the top of the meeting’s agenda.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, has urged the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) to publish its reports on Afghanistan impartially, taking the country’s realities into account and not overlooking its economic and security achievements.

He made the remarks on Sunday at a ceremony organised by the Afghan Red Crescent Society to mark the special week dedicated to supporting people in need.

Baradar said: “It is not fair for Afghanistan’s economic and security achievements to be ignored in reports, while UNAMA, as an opposing and hostile party, focuses on the negative aspects.”

The deputy prime minister for economic affairs said many Afghans were facing a severe economic and humanitarian crisis due to recent droughts, seasonal floods, earthquakes and the forced return of thousands of families to the country. He said addressing these challenges required serious attention.

He called on wealthy individuals, traders, investors, charitable organisations and international humanitarian agencies to provide practical assistance and cooperate with the Afghan Red Crescent Society.

Meanwhile, Noorulhaq Anwar, head of the General Directorate of Administrative Affairs, called on Afghanistan’s neighbouring countries to stop harassing and suppressing Afghans and depriving them of economic opportunities.

Referring to relations between neighbours, Anwar said neighbours should help reduce one another’s difficulties rather than make people’s lives harder through economic pressure.

Without naming any specific country, Anwar added that Afghanistan’s neighbours were still harassing and suppressing Afghans and depriving them economically.