The lack of tradable currency through banking channels led the federal government on Friday to permit the export of another 14 commodities to Afghanistan in rupees via land routes, in what looks to be yet another significant development. Following a sharp drop in shipments to Afghanistan, the decision was made at a meeting of the cabinet's Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), headed over by Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin.
On Wednesday, the Taliban encouraged Muslim countries to recognise the government of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA). The Taliban has urged Muslim countries to accept the Afghan government's Islamic Emirate. According to Baaghi TV., Taliban acting Prime Minister Mullah Muhammad Hassan Akhund called on Islamic countries to be the first to recognise the IEA.
On Friday, Pakistan resuscitated its plea to the international community and relief agencies to provide aid to Afghanistan. Prime Minister Imran Khan directed relevant authorities to "seek bilateral cooperation with friendly countries" to stave off a looming humanitarian crisis in the neighboring state. The premier, while chairing the third meeting of the Apex Committee on Afghanistan, said "Pakistan is committed to providing all-out support to Afghan people to avert [a] humanitarian crisis".
On Jan 12, Prime Minister Imran Khan visited the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Secretariat in Islamabad. He had a comprehensive briefing followed by a discussion on national security and regional dynamics, with an emphasis on the ongoing situation in Afghanistan. "The prime minister appreciated the efforts of the ISI for national security, stability, and prosperity and expressed satisfaction over the professional preparedness to safeguard Pakistan's National Interest," the PMO statement said.
Muhammad Khurassani, the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTPoperational )'s commander and spokesperson, was killed in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province on Monday, according to sources who did not provide further details. The news comes only days after Major General Babar Iftikhar, Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), stated that the discussion with the TTP had been put on pause
Kabul: On Monday, a senior security official confirmed that a senior leader of the proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Khalid Batli alias Mohammad Khurasani, was slain in the eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan. The details on the situation surrounding the killing are not clear yet. According to the reports, Balti, aged around 50, had also been the banned group's spokesperson and was involved in several incursions on the people and security forces of Pakistan.
Kabul: It was reported on Sunday that an infant boy handed in desperation to a soldier across an airport wall, was reunited with the family. It happened during the chaos of the American evacuation of Afghanistan. The baby, Sohail Ahmadi, was just two months old when he went missing on Aug. 19. He was found by a taxi driver who raised him and then returned him to the family after missing reports.
On Jan 7, Afghanistan's Deputy PM Abdul Ghani Baradar said that the weather has aggravated the hardships of the Afghan people. He also said that the Taliban were preparing to help with the distribution of foreign aid across the country. "In various places right now, people do not have food, accommodation, warm clothes, or money," the country's Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Ghani Baradar said. Global aid agencies have notified that more than half of Afghanistan's 38 million people are anticipated to face hunger.
Pakistan has expressed its deep worry to the interim Afghan Taliban administration over multiple events in which local Taliban soldiers attempted to destroy border barriers. A senior Pakistani official told The Express Tribune here on Sunday that the Afghan Taliban leadership had been informed that Pakistan was exercising "maximum restraint" to prevent escalating tensions. Because of the sensitivity of the situation, the official spoke on the condition of anonymity. According to official sources, Pakistan is anticipated to publish a formal comment on the matter within 24 hours.
During the year 2021, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police killed 110 terrorists and detained 599 others, according to the provincial police chief. "Apart from killing 110 terrorists, the Counter-Terrorism Department managed to arrest 599 others. They included a number of most wanted people who were carrying millions of rupees as head money," Inspector General of Police Moazzam Jah Ansari told reporters while unveiling the one year performance report of the force.
According to a senior official, Pakistani and Afghan Taliban officials have resolved their recent disagreement over border fencing by agreeing that future construction will be done through consensus. The official, who spoke to a group of journalists in the background, said: “It has been decided at a senior level that fencing-related issues would in future be dealt with through mutual agreement.”
According to the Pakistan Army Public Relations Department ISPR, terrorists attacked a security forces check point in the Kech area of Balochistan. According to ISPR, a search effort is underway in the area to locate the suspect. The security forces are resolved, according to the DG ISPR, to defeat hostile elements' actions aimed at undermining Balochistan's peace, stability, and prosperity.
Afghanistan will get $5 billion from the United Nations. It emphasised that the organisation does not intend to create an alternative state in Afghanistan, but that system support is critical to the foundation's success in order to avoid losing the accomplishments of the previous two decades. The United Nations has said it plans to provide 5 billion to strengthen Afghanistan's economy. The United Nations is reportedly working on a 5 billion budget for the next year to provide services and assistance in Afghanistan.
On Dec 21, almost 200 Afghans protested in Kabul to demand the clearance of billions of dollars of assets frozen by the international community. This was an unusual demonstration the Taliban allowed as the state is on the verge of a major economic crisis. The march was organized by a little-known group called the Afghan People's Movement and no women participated.
Kabul: On Monday, Afghanistan's acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi disapproved former president Hamid Karzai's derogatory remarks about Prime Minister Imran Khan. He alleged Khan of associating the contemporary situation in the war-ravaged state to years of "corruption" by previous leaders. PM Khan made the remarks while addressing the 17th extraordinary session of the OIC of Foreign Ministers in Islamabad on Sunday.
Kabul: On Friday, Afghanistan's finance ministry under the Taliban government has prepared a draft of the national budget. This is the first time in two decades when the national budget is funded without foreign aid. The finance ministry spokesman, Ahmad Wali Haqmal, did not reveal the size of the draft budget until it was approved by the cabinet.
According to the man who apparently gave the invitation, the Taliban chose not to take the Afghan capital; rather, they were welcomed. Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai gave an interview in which he revealed some of the first details about Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's secret and unexpected departure, as well as how he came to invite the Taliban into the city to protect the population and prevent the country from devolving into chaos.
Islamabbad: The Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova asserted that Moscow upholds the decision of the World Bank to release $280 million of the frozen Afghan assets, but total assets should be unfrozen. “We support the decision of the World Bank to allocate $280 million from the frozen funds of the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund to the UN World Food Program and UNICEF. However, we consider the measure to be insufficient and call for unfreezing the remaining funds, which amount to more than $1 billion, as soon as possible,” she stated.
It was reported on Friday afternoon that two explosions occurred in Western Kabul city in which two people lost their lives and four got injured. Saeed Khosty, the Interior Ministry spokesman, stated that the first explosion occurred in Dasht-e-Barchi in western Kabul city that targeted a transport vehicle and killed 2. The second one happened in western Kabul city and injured a woman.
It emerged on Friday that the Taliban had announced to ban forced marriage of women in Afghanistan. This move was meant to address criteria set by the international community as a precondition to acknowledging their regime and resuscitating assistance to the war-ravaged country.
Islamabad: According to a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office on Monday, PM Imran Khan had approved the humanitarian relief package for Afghanistan. The decision came during the first apex committee meeting of the recently established Afghanistan Inter-Ministerial Coordination Cell (AICC). Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance Shaukat Tarin, Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf, and senior civil and military officers attended the meeting. The premier also urged all the relevant ministries to make efforts for facilitating the Afghans to the maximum and approved in-principle tariff and sales tax reduction on key Afghan exports to Pakistan.
Afghanistan's Taliban leadership has set new laws prohibiting women from acting in television shows. Female journalists and presenters are likewise required to wear headscarves when on camera, albeit the standards do not specify which sort of covering should be worn. Some of the guidelines, according to reporters, are ambiguous and open to interpretation. In mid-August, the Taliban took power in Afghanistan, and many believe that they are gradually imposing harsh restrictions.
Pakistan ombudsman to Afghanistan Mansoor Ahmad Khan upheld the active engagement between Pakistan and the Taliban government in Kabul regarding the issues of "inclusivity, counter-terrorism, human rights and to ward off humanitarian crises". Khan made the remarks after a high-level Afghan commission paid a three-day visit to Islamabad. He also said, 'As part of Pakistan’s policy, four working groups were formed during the visit of Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to Kabul in October on people's movement, trade, transit and commerce, air connectivity and cooperation in the fields of security and intelligence'.
Islamabad: It was reported on Sunday that three Afghan nationals including two women were detained from Islamabad International Airport while trying to travel to Germany on fake documents. Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) sources told that Shiba Ameen, Nida Kharoti and Abdul Biyas Kharoti tried to travel to the European country on forged residency permits. Later, the FIA arrested the Afghan nationals and switched them to the anti-human trafficking cell for further investigation.
It emerged on Sunday that three coal miners were gunned down by unidentified armed men in the Zalawan area in Harnai, Balochistan, an official said. Sohail Hashmi, Deputy Commissioner Harnai district, told that the assailants arrived at the coal mine in the wee hours of Sunday and opened fire on the colliers; three of them belonging to Kandahar and Afghanistan died on the spot.
In an evacuation flight funded by US celebrity Kim Kardashian, members of Afghanistan's women's youth development football team were airlifted to the United Kingdom. According to the ROKiT Foundation, the 35 female players and their families, a total of 130 people, arrived at Stansted Airport, east of London, in the early hours of Thursday morning. Since fleeing Afghanistan after the Taliban took control of the country, the squad have been on temporary 30-day visas in Pakistan. However, a charter flight brought them to the United Kingdom, where they will be quarantined in a hotel for 10 days due to a coronavirus outbreak before beginning their new lives.
Deborah Lyons, the UN’s special representative for the country warned that war-ravaged Afghanistan was “on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe” and its collapsing economy was exacerbating the risk of extremism. "The United Nations predicts that 60% of Afghanistan’s 38 million people face crisis levels of hunger in a food emergency that will likely worsen over the winter," she said. She also disclosed that the country’s GDP is estimated to have contracted by 40%.
The Taliban demanded on Wednesday that members of the US Congress release Afghan assets that had been blocked since the Taliban took control of the nation, saying that economic turmoil at home may lead to trouble abroad. Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi wrote in an open letter that the main difficulty confronting Afghanistan was financial insecurity, "and the origins of this concern can be traced back to the American government's freezing of our people's assets." The Afghan central bank's assets have been seized by Washington for over $9.5 billion, and the aid-dependent economy has practically failed, with civil servants unpaid for months and the treasury unable to pay for imports.
On Wednesday, an explosion blew away a mini van in a Shia neighborhood of Western Kabul which killed at least one person and injured three. Zabihullah Mujahid, deputy minister for culture and information in the Taliban-led regime, stated, without elaborating much, that the investigation was being conducted. This is the third blast in Afghanistan's capital this week. None of the militant groups took responsibility for the killings.
The officials reported on Tuesday that the Taliban nabbed a man for allegedly trading dozens of women in northern Afghanistan after misleading them into thinking they would be marrying into a fortune. The man, Damullah Seraj, was arrested on late Monday from the northern Jawzjan province, the Taliban provincial police chief disclosed
