Page 16 - Afghanistan

Millions of Afghans sought refuge in Pak; Now hiding to evade deportation

Born and raised in Pakistan to parents who fled neighbouring Afghanistan half a century ago, an 18-year-old found himself at the mercy of police in Karachi who took his cash, phone and motorbike, and sent him to a deportation centre. Scared and bewildered, he spent three days there before he was sent back to Afghanistan, a place he has never been to, with nothing but clothes on his back. The youth is one of at least 1.7 million Afghans who made Pakistan their home as their country sank deeper into decades of war. But they've been living there without legal permission, and are now the target of a harsh crackdown on migrants who Pakistan says must leave. Some 600,000 Afghans have returned home since last October, when the crackdown began, meaning at least a million remain in Pakistan in hiding. They've retreated from public view, abandoning their jobs and rarely leaving their neighbourhoods out of fear they could be next for deportation. It's harder for them to earn money, rent ...

23.7 million people need humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan: UNICEF

According to UNICEF, only 35 per cent of the required $1.4 billion in aid for children in Afghanistan has been secured.

Giving food, cash to 6 million people monthly in Afghanistan, says WFP

About 15.8 million people in Afghanistan would experience food insecurity crises and emergency levels, according to UN estimates.

250,000 Afghan children require education, food and homes, says NGO

A quarter of a million Afghan children need education, food and homes after being forcibly returned from Pakistan, a nongovernmental organisation said Thursday. Pakistan is cracking down on foreigners it alleges are in the country illegally, including 1.7 million Afghans. It insists the campaign is not directed against Afghans specifically, but they make up most of the foreigners in the country. More than 520,000 Afghans have left Pakistan since last October. Save the Children said families are entering Afghanistan with virtually nothing and that nearly half of all returnees are children. A survey of families by the NGO said nearly all of them lacked enough food for the next one to two months. Some returnees and host families had to borrow money for food or rely on friends and relatives for food. Almost two thirds of children who have returned to Afghanistan have not been enrolled in school, according to Save the Children. The majority told the organisation they don't have the ...

Afghanistan: Reports from the wreckage

Ms Basu describes with aplomb the sense of urgency and fear of life that every decision would entail

Afghanistan flash floods kill 33, injure 27; hundreds rendered homeless

Afghanistan is among the most vulnerable countries against natural disasters, including floods, earthquakes, avalanches, landslides and drought

Heavy seasonal rains set off flash floods, killing 33 people in Afghanistan

Heavy flooding from seasonal rains in Afghanistan has killed at least 33 people and injured 27 others in three days, a Taliban spokesman said Sunday. Abdullah Janan Saiq, the Taliban's spokesman for the State Ministry for Natural Disaster Management, said Sunday that flash floods hit the capital, Kabul, and several other provinces across the country. He added more than 600 houses were either partially or completely destroyed while around 200 livestock perished. The flooding also damaged around 800 hectares of agricultural land, and more than 85 kilometres (53 miles) of roads, Saiq said. Western Farah, Herat, southern Zabul and Kandahar are among the provinces that suffered the most damage, he added. The weather department has warned that more rain is expected in the coming days in most of Afghanistan's 34 provinces.

Process underway to 'appoint' special representative for Afghanistan: UN

The Taliban regime opposes the appointment of a new special representative for Afghanistan and believes that with the presence of UNAMA, this is an unnecessary move, reported Khaama Press

Cenbank under Taliban control 'prohibits' online currency exchange

The prohibition of online currency exchanges has been put in place under the Taliban's supervisory and security administration, according to Khaama Press

UN calls for $620 mn to support Afghan migrants in Iran and Pakistan

According to the UNHCR report, 4.8 million Afghan migrants and 2.5 million members of their host communities will be assisted in 2024

World Bank allocates $16 mn to support women-led businesses in Afghanistan

The World Bank added that the bank is striving to increase access to financial resources in Afghanistan for small and medium-sized enterprises

UN raises alarm over rising malnutrition among women, kids in Afghanistan

Presently, Afghanistan witnesses a surge in the number of malnourished children seeking care at specialised clinics nationwide

Pakistan set to launch second phase of repatriation of documented Afghans

Even as confusion prevails about the exact number of undocumented Afghans sent back from Pakistan to their country, preparations are afoot to launch the second phase of repatriation aimed at nearly one million documented' Afghans, a media report said on Monday. The Interior Ministry had already issued directives to district authorities and police to expedite the mapping, and collecting data of the whereabouts of the Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders and given March 25, Monday, as the deadline to complete the exercise, the Dawn newspaper reported quoting documents it had accessed and an official privy to the developments. Pakistan launched the first round of repatriation of what it called undocumented aliens in November last year. No date has yet been announced, but the official said the campaign to repatriate hundreds of thousands of ACC holders could begin in early to mid-summer, following approval from the federal government. We have already started the mapping process, Abid Maje

FIFA World Cup Qualifier:IND vs AFG live match starts at 12:30 AM IST today

India will take on Afghanistan at Khamis Mushait Stadium in Saudi Arabia at 12:30 AM IST on Friday, March 22, 2024. The match will be telecast live on DD Sports and can be live-streamed on Fancode

Suicide bomber attacks bank in Afghanistan, 3 killed and 12 other injured

A suicide bomber carried out an attack on Thursday at a private bank in Kandahar city in southern Afghanistan, killing at least three people and injuring 12 others, officials said. All of the victims were people who had gathered at the branch of New Kabul Bank to collect their monthly salaries, said Inamullah Samangani, head of the government's Kandahar Information and Culture Department. Abdul Mateen Qani, spokesman for the Taliban Interior Ministry, also confirmed the attack but couldn't provide more details. He said it was being investigated. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing. The Islamic State group's affiliate, a major Taliban rival, has conducted previous attacks on schools, hospitals, mosques and Shiite areas throughout the country. Kandahar city is a spiritual and political centre for Afghanistan's rulers because the Taliban's supreme leader, Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, is based there and his decisions on major issues are implemented by authorities

Pakistan facing threat of terrorism along Afghanistan border: US official

Pakistan is facing a terrible threat of terrorism as areas along its border with Afghanistan have witnessed a multi-fold increase in terrorist activities, a top Biden Administration official has said. During a Congressional hearing on Pakistani elections on Wednesday, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Donald Lu told members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee that Afghanistan has witnessed conflict for 40 years and Pakistan has been caught up in it. "The end of the war in Afghanistan provides us all an opportunity, an opportunity to have a relationship with Pakistan on its own terms and we are committed to doing that," Lu said. "One of the major goals that we have with Pakistan now is to support the Pakistani people as they face this terrible threat of terrorism. Many of the members have discussed this, but this is a country where the people have suffered under the threat of terrorism in a way that I think no one on the planet has had to suffer," he said. T

Failures of Biden govt in planning drove fall of Kabul: Top ex-US generals

The top two US generals who oversaw the evacuation of Afghanistan as it fell to the Taliban in August 2021 blamed the Biden administration for the chaotic departure, telling lawmakers that it inadequately planned for the evacuation and did not order it in time. The rare testimony by the two retired generals on Tuesday publicly exposed for the first time the strain and differences the military leaders had with the Biden administration in the final days of the war. Two of those key differences included that the military had advised that the US keep at least 2,500 service members in Afghanistan to maintain stability and a concern that the State Department was not moving fast enough to get an evacuation started. The remarks contrasted with an internal White House review of the administration's decisions found that President Joe Biden's decisions had been "severely constrained" by previous withdrawal agreements negotiated by former President Donald Trump and blamed the military, saying to

From friend to foe: How Hafiz Gul Bahadur brought Pak, Afghanistan to blows

Hafiz Gul Bahadur went from being a pro-Pakistan militant commander to an implacable foe of the state and armed forces in the span of just a decade

US urges Pak to exercise restraint hours after airstrikes in Afghanistan

The United States urged Pakistan to exercise restraint in its counter-terrorist offensive in Afghanistan, hours after Islamabad said it carried out airstrikes on Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) affiliated militants in the neighbouring country. Speaking at a press conference on Monday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the US also urges the Taliban, which rules Afghanistan, to ensure that Afghan soil is not used for launching terror attacks. Earlier on Monday, Pakistan said it carried out airstrikes on TTP militants in Afghanistan, amidst a war of words between the two neighbours over a spate of recent terror attacks in restive Pakistani cities. Pakistan's Foreign Office (FO) said that rebels belonging to TTP's Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group were hit after the outfit claimed responsibility for the attack on Saturday at an army outpost that resulted in the killing of seven soldiers, including two officers. At least eight civilians, including three children, were killed in

Pakistan conducts airstrikes inside Afghanistan, 8 civilians killed

Pakistan on Monday carried out airstrikes inside Afghanistan that killed eight civilians, including three children, Afghan Taliban said, amidst a war of words between the two neighbours for a spate of recent militant attacks in restive Pakistani cities. A senior Afghan interim government official on Monday confirmed that strikes in the Afghanistan provinces of Paktika and Khost along the Pakistan border have taken place. There was no immediate reaction from the Pakistani side. Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesperson of the Afghan rulers, alleged in a statement that Pakistani aircraft had carried out the airstrikes, the Dawn newspaper reported from Kabul. At around 3 am, Pakistani aircraft bombarded civilian homes in Khost and Paktika provinces near the border with Pakistan, said Afghan interim government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid, claiming that all eight people killed were women and children. Mujahid said that Pakistani planes had bombed the Laman area in Paktika's Barmal ...