Connect with us

Latest News

UNAMA chief delivers stark report to UN Security Council

Published

on

(Last Updated On: March 24, 2021)

United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) chief Deborah Lyons sounded the alarm on Tuesday when she told the UN Security Council that soaring rates of violence continue to hamper humanitarian efforts in the country.

She said that six months into Afghanistan’s latest round of peace talks, progress remains slow and demands strong support from the global community.

“We always knew that this would be a complicated peace,” said Deborah Lyons, as she briefed the 15-member Council during a videoconference meeting.

Describing Tuesday’s meeting as a chance to take stock six months after the launch of the Afghanistan Peace Negotiations, the signing of an agreement between the United States and the Taliban and a joint declaration between Kabul and Washington, D.C., she said attacks against civilians have only escalated.

The extreme violence is leading both Afghans and their international partners to voice understandable frustration. “The killings, the displacement, the suffering of the Afghan people must end now,” she stressed.

Noting that the first two months of 2021 saw a worrying spate of brutal attacks deliberately targeting civilians. She said the deaths of more than 80 Afghans — including media staff, civil society, members of the judiciary, religious scholars and government officials — have been recorded to date.

“This does not convey the full, crippling impact of the violence on Afghanistan’s civic life,” she said, adding that for every Afghan killed, many more leave their professions or plan to flee the country.

She also stated that ISIS-K (Daesh) claimed responsibility for 25 violent attacks in the last quarter, a steep increase, and she highlighted a deepening humanitarian crisis and the threat of drought. Food insecurity is at record levels, with more than 40 per cent of the population at emergency and crisis levels, she said..

Against that backdrop, she called on the international community to contribute generously to the humanitarian response plan, which is only six percent funded, while warning that money alone is not enough.

She also said humanitarian workers continue to be targeted by threats and violence, and the impartial delivery of aid is obstructed.

Emphasizing that such acts are illegal and unjustifiable, she recalled that she recently raised those issues with Taliban leaders and her office has been working with the Afghan government to ensure its legislative framework protects the space of non-governmental organizations carrying out humanitarian work.

She said all these developments are taking place against the backdrop of slowing progress in the peace talks in Doha. She said both sides need to continue to show their commitment to remaining at the negotiating table.

Welcoming the appointment of Jean Arnault of France as the Secretary-General’s new Personal Envoy on Afghanistan and Regional Issues, she said Member States have also played a vital role in coming up with new initiatives to reinvigorate the peace process.

Pointing to a proposed meeting in Turkey as another such opportunity, she stressed that such initiatives must be focused, coherent and, above all, they must reinforce rather than undermine the Doha negotiations.

According to Lyons, decades of conflict have created real grievances on all sides, as well as a deep lack of trust among the parties.

She also said there are genuine and profound differences between the Afghan Republic and the Taliban’s desired end State.

Addressing those issues will continue to require patience and commitment on both sides, she said, adding that any lasting peace settlement must consider the views and concerns of all Afghans and not just those of an elite few.

She said she hopes by her next briefing to the Security Council real progress would have been made.

Lyons stated that she hopes by June, there would have been at least a substantial de-escalation of violence, if not a ceasefire.

While those developments could mark a real turning point, the road ahead is still not clear and “we are moving into a period of great uncertainty, she said.

Shaharzad Akbar, Chairperson of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, also briefed the Council, stressing that the war in Afghanistan remains one of the world’s deadliest conflicts for civilians.

She said the onslaught of attacks has further diminished the country’s civic space, leading to self-censorship for journalists, human rights defenders and religious scholars, and thus impacting the quality of public engagement and debate on issues critical to Afghanistan’s present and future.

Akbar also stated that the country’s peace talks remain dominated by a group of elite men, some of whom have themselves been responsible for perpetuating violence.

“Building peace takes more than a deal among elites,” she said, calling for a more inclusive national endeavour that ensures the participation of women, minorities, youth, civil society and the vibrant Afghan media, as well as victims.

A minimum of 30 percent of the participants in the peace talks should be women, and more steps are needed to achieve full gender balance in the future, she said.

“At the recent conference in Moscow, I, like many Afghan women, was shocked and angered to see only one Afghan woman, Dr. Habiba Sarabi, in a room full of men discussing the future of my country,” she said.

Afghan women have fought for their human rights for many decades, and have made considerable progress in education, employment and political participation. They are experts everywhere, from the fields of politics to public administration, security, business, science and information technology.

Excluding or marginalizing them from the main discussions about the future of Afghanistan is not only unjust and unacceptable, but unwise and unhelpful to a lasting peace, she said.

Latest News

Contract worth $53 million signed for construction of last section of Khaf–Herat railway

Published

on

(Last Updated On: March 29, 2024)

A contract worth $53 million was signed Thursday for the construction of the last section of Khaf-Herat railway that connects Afghanistan with Iran.

The contract was signed between Afghanistan Railway Authority and Gamma Group in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, his office said in a statement.

The segment is 47-kilometer long, stretching from Rabat Parian to Herat International Airport and the Industrial Town, according to the statement.

It added that completion and standard operational readiness are expected within approximately two years.

“Upon its completion, this segment will integrate the Khaf-Herat regional connectivity project with Iran’s significant seaports and facilitate access to Europe via the Turkish railway network,” the statement said.

“Furthermore, traversing Afghan territory, it will bolster commercial exchanges between Central and South Asia. Notably, this project’s realization will enable the expansion of railway networks into Farah, Nimruz, Helmand, and Kandahar provinces,” it added.

Gamma operates across Europe and Asia in multiple sectors including construction, renewable energy, power transmission, mining, railways among others.

Continue Reading

Latest News

US urges IEA to fulfill counter-terrorism commitments

Published

on

(Last Updated On: March 29, 2024)

The US State Department said on Thursday that Washington is committed to ensuring that Afghanistan can never again be a launching pad for terrorism.

“We remain committed to ensuring that Afghanistan can never again be a launching pad for terrorism, and we continue to push the Taliban (Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan) to fulfill all of their counterterrorism commitments to the international community,” the department’s spokesperson Matthew Miller said at a news briefing in Washington.

He reiterated that the United States had clearly communicated to the IEA that it’s their responsibility to ensure that “they give no safe haven to terrorists, whether it be Al Qaeda or ISIS-K or any other terrorist organization”.

Miller also reassured US allies that Washington was closely watching the developments in Afghanistan and was ready to deal with any threat emerging from the region.

“We remain vigilant against the evolving threat of these terrorist groups, and our global coalition to defeat ISIS and the C5+1 help intensify our efforts to monitor terrorist threats from the region and prevent their ability to raise funds, travel, and spread propaganda,” he said.

C5+1 refers to a diplomatic platform involving the five Central Asian states (Kazakhstan, Kyrgy­zstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) and the United States. It serves as a forum for discussing and addressing regional issues such as security, economic development, and cooperation.

“The United States remains vigilant against the evolving threat posed by terrorist groups, including ISIS-K, and has maintained an unwavering focus on terrorism since President Joe Biden took office three years ago,” Miller said.

The US, he said, was “working both unilaterally and with its partners to successfully disrupt threats across the globe and degrade ISIS”.

“We will continue to work to hold ISIS accountable for its actions and to prevent terrorist attacks against the United States and other Western countries,” Miller said.

This comes as IEA has repeatedly said that it is committed to not allowing anyone to use Afghanistan soil against any other country.

Continue Reading

Latest News

IEA condemns Israel for confiscating 800 hectares of land in West Bank’s Jordan Valley

Published

on

(Last Updated On: March 29, 2024)

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) strongly condemned on Thursday Israel’s decision to seize 800 hectares of land in the occupied West Bank’s Jordan Valley region.

In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said that the recent actions by “the Zionist regime demonstrate that it does not to adhere to international laws, especially international humanitarian law.”

“Continuation of such unilateral actions and ignoring the rights of Palestinian people will further deteriorate the situation,” the statement said.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan expects international actors, particularly influential regional Muslim countries to fulfill their legitimate, human and moral responsibilities in supporting the oppressed people of Palestine and prevent the expansion of illegal settlements in the occupied territories,” it added.

Israeli media have reported that Israel seized 800 hectares of land in the Jordan Valley region of the occupied West Bank, claiming it as “state land.”

It is reported the seized land could be used for the construction of illegal Jewish settlements.

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2022 Ariana News. All rights reserved!