Page 27 - Afghanistan

Minibus crash kills 25 people, nine children in northern Afghanistan

A minibus crash in northern Afghanistan killed 25 people, including nine children and 12 women, a police spokesman said Wednesday. The accident happened in a mountainous area with half-paved roads in Sar-e-Pul province as the passengers were returning from a wedding. They were traveling from one part of Sayyad district to another. Din Mohammad Nazari, the spokesman for the local police commander, blamed the minibus driver for the crash. He said the car fell into a deep pit because of his carelessness. Nazari did not say if there were any survivors. Traffic accidents are common in Afghanistan, mainly due to poor road conditions and carelessness of drivers on highways.

Ex-Pakistan Army chief General Bajwa heckled by Afghan man in France

The Pashto-speaking man accused Bajwa human rights violations in Afghanistan and accused him of helping the Taliban loot Afghanistan

All airports in Afghanistan operational, with 20 foreign flights daily

The Taliban-led government in Afghanistan on Monday said that all the airports in the war-torn nation were currently operational

Internal matter, says MEA Bagchi on power struggle in Afghan embassy

As the Afghan embassy in Delhi reels under a power struggle after the Taliban appointed a diplomat to head the mission in place of the incumbent, India on Friday said it is an "internal matter" of the embassy. "From our perspective, this is an internal matter of the Afghan embassy and we hope that they would resolve it internally," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said when asked about a question on the matter. Ambassador Farid Mamundzay Mamundzay, who was appointed by the previous Ashraf Ghani government, has been operating as the Afghan envoy even after the Taliban came to power in August 2021. However, the Taliban in April appointed Qadir Shah to head the mission. Shah has been working as a trade councillor at the Afghan embassy since 2020. When Mamundzay was on a visit abroad, Shah tried to take charge of the embassy as the charge d'affaires late last month, but his attempt was stalled by other diplomats at the mission, people familiar with the matter said.

Terror strikes in Pakistan surged after Taliban takeover of Afghanistan

In first 21 months after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, the number of terrorist attacks in Pakistan increased dramatically by 73% compared to same period before their takeover, Dawn reported

No infiltration of Taliban into Kashmir post-Kabul fall: GOC Chinar Corps

The apprehensions about the influx of Taliban fighters into Kashmir after the fall of Kabul in 2021 did not materialise and no Afghani Taliban has infiltrated into the valley, a senior Army officer has said here. General Officer Commanding (GOC) of Chinar Corps Lieutenant General A D S Aujla also said that due to the ongoing internal crisis in Pakistan, there are no major worries regarding Kashmir but the armed forces have to remain alert to thwart any attempts to push in infiltrators, narcotics or weapons. "As far as the apprehensions which were there post Taliban 2.0 are concerned, we could see the manifestations (of concern) on this side as well in Kashmir but it never happened," Lt Gen Aujla told PTI in an interview on Wednesday. A certain amount of chatter and a certain amount of signature was being reported on the other side in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), but it never translated into reality onto this side, he said. "So, there was no infiltration of any Afghani Taliban..

Here's how a covert relationship with Taliban backfired for US ally Pak

"Pakistan saw the Taliban as deeply connected to the TTP and able to persuade it to stop its attacks"

Afghanistan's acting FM Amir Khan Muttaqi terms world's sanctions 'cruel'

Muttaqi said, "The world countries should listen, they should not pursue their cases under the pretext that these people are being harmed here"

India cements relations with Afghanistan by routing food aid through Iran

The Chabahar port is proving to be useful as a politically unstable and economically-weak Pakistan has been refusing Indian aid trucks to cross its territory into Afghanistan

Afghanistan, Pakistan and Myanmar among global hunger hotspots: UN

Two UN agencies warned Monday of rising food emergencies including starvation in Sudan due to the outbreak of war and in Haiti,Burkina Faso and Mali due to restricted movements of people and goods. The four countries join Afghanistan, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen at the highest alert levels, with communities that are already facing or projected to face starvation or otherwise risk a slide towards catastrophic conditions. The report by the World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organisation calls for urgent attention to save both lives and jobs. Beyond the nine countries rating the highest level of concern, the agencies said 22 countries are identified as hotspots' risking acute food insecurity. Business-as-usual pathways are no longer an option in today's risk landscape if we want to achieve global food security for all, ensuring that no one is left behind. said Qu Dongyu, FAO Director-General. He called for immediate action in the agricultural sector to pull

Mild tremors in parts of Punjab, Haryana as 5.2 quake hits Afghanistan

Mild tremors were felt in parts of Punjab and Haryana after a 5.2 magnitude earthquake struck Afghanistan on Sunday. The tremors, which lasted for a few seconds, occurred around 11:20 am, seismologists said. "The tremors were mild. I felt a jolt as the tremors lasted for a couple of seconds," said Ajay Kumar, a resident of Chandigarh. On the night of March 21, strong tremors had jolted most parts of Punjab and Haryana after an earthquake of magnitude 6.6 struck the Hindu Kush region in Afghanistan, causing people to rush out of buildings.

Medium intensity earthquake hits Jammu and Kashmir, tremors felt in Delhi

A medium intensity earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale jolted J&K on Sunday as no immediate report of casualty or damage to property was reported from anywhere.

More than 9,000 Afghans file asylum applications in EU in a month

It is reported that Syrians and Afghans are the largest groups of asylum seekers in the EU member states over the past years

Taliban appoints new Afghan ambassador, MEA says no formal notice received

There are also concerns about how India would react if a Taliban-approved dispensation at the Afghan Embassy in Delhi were to act against Afghans in India

Afghanistan facing catastrophic food crisis, says World Bank report

Afghanistan is among one of the seven countries which face a catastrophic level of food crisis, the World Bank highlighted in its report, Khaama Press reported

Earthquake of 4.3 magnitude strikes Afghanistan's Kabul, NCS informs

An earthquake of magnitude 4.3 struck Kabul, Afghanistan on Sunday, the National Center for Seismology (NCS) informed.The earthquake occurred at 8:14 am today, the NCS said.The depth of the earthquake was recorded to be 60 km."Earthquake of Magnitude:4.3, Occurred on 14-05-2023, 08:14:29 IST, Lat: 33.34 & Long: 69.94, Depth: 60 Km, Location: 151 km SSE of Kabul, Afghanistan," the NCS tweeted.Further details are awaited.

Widespread locust infestation in Afghan provinces is huge concern: FAO

The UN food agency is warning that a widespread locust infestation in several Afghan provinces is of huge concern and could possibly decimate a quarter of the wheat crop. A statement from the Food and Agriculture Organisation, dated Wednesday, said that at least eight of Afghanistan's 34 provinces have been affected by the Moroccan Locust, ranked among the most economically damaging plant pests in the world. The reports of Moroccan Locust outbreak in Afghanistan's breadbasket is a huge concern," said Richard Trenchard, FAO's representative in Afghanistan. "It represents an enormous threat to farmers, communities, and the entire country. He added that the last two big outbreaks, 20 and 40 years ago, cost Afghanistan an estimated 8 per cent and 25 per cent of its annual wheat production respectively. Afghanistan's Taliban-appointed spokesman for the agriculture, irrigation, and livestock ministry said the authorities were aware of the dangers. We are aware of the situation and are .

Earthquake of magnitude 4.5 jolts southwest Fayzabad in Afghanistan

An earthquake of magnitude 4.5 on the Richter scale jolted 99 kilometres south-southwest of Fayzabad, Afghanistan on Thursday, the National Center for Seismology (NCS) said.The NCS said that the earthquake occurred at 5:51 am IST on Thursday and at a depth of 172 Kilometers. NCS tweeted, "Earthquake of Magnitude:4.5, Occurred on 11-05-2023, 05:51:03 IST, Lat: 36.33 & Long: 69.98, Depth: 172 Km, Location: 99km SSW of Fayzabad, Afghanistan."No casualty has been reported yet. Further details are awaited.Earlier on Tuesday, an earthquake of magnitude 4.3 on the Richter scale jolted 116 kilometres South East of Fayzabad in Afghanistan, the National Center for Seismology (NCS) informed in a tweet.The earthquake occurred at 3:32 am IST on Tuesday and hit at a depth of 120 kilometres. The NCS tweeted, "Earthquake of Magnitude:4.3, Occurred on 09-05-2023, 03:32:23 IST, Lat: 36.47 & Long: 71.59, Depth: 120 Km, Location: 116km SE of Fayzabad, Afghanistan.

China pulls off its Afghan investment gambit after a delayed start

China is ready to help Afghanistan realise self-reliance, peace, stability, development and prosperity at an early date, said Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang

Pakistan, China to extend CPEC to Afghanistan, stress on fighting terrorism

Pakistan, China and Afghanistan have agreed to forge closer economic ties by extending the Beijing-backed China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to Afghanistan to fully harness the country's potential as a hub for regional connectivity. Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang and Afghanistan's Taliban-appointed acting Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi held the 5th China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Foreign Ministers' Dialogue, where they also underlined the need to prevent any group from using their territories for terror activities against any nation. The three countries reiterated their resolve to fully harness Afghanistan's potential as a hub for regional connectivity and reaffirmed "their commitment to further the trilateral cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and to jointly extend the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to Afghanistan, according to a joint statement issued on Monday, two days after the meeting here on .