Don’t Know When Girls’ Schools Will Reopen, Says Suhail Shaheen

Over the past four days, 17 provinces of Afghanistan have witnessed heavy rains and floods. Local sources in Kandahar province said that eight people lost their lives as a result of floods, however, as per Afghanistan International’s sources on the ground, 22 people had died and two got injured.

Mohammad Hakim Hakimi, Taliban’s Director of Public Health department in Zabul province, also confirmed the death of 20 people in this province. Zabihullah Jawhar, Taliban’s spokesperson for the Zabul governor told Afghanistan International that casualties were in the Shahr e Safa, Seweri, Ata Ghar, Shamulzai, Shah Joy and Day Chopan areas and districts. According to him, 310 houses, hundreds of livestock and 1,300 hectares of land were destroyed in these areas.

Ali Marjan Zakir, district governor of Gizab district of Uruzgan, said that due to the floods, eight members of a family lost their lives, however, local residents said that 15 people have died and six others are missing.

Taliban’s meteorological department said that heavy rains and winds will continue in Kabul, Kunar, Nangarhar, Laghman, Logar, Paktika, Paktia, Khost, Ghazni and Zabul provinces in the coming days.

Karzai considered holding such dialogues “the only way to consolidate peace and stable stability”. Potzel too considered holding a national dialogue in Afghanistan as an "urgent need". According to Potzel, "it is always a pleasure and honour to use the extensive experience of the former president – Hamid Karzai- on the process of national reconciliation in Afghan society."

Karzai then stressed on the reopening of girls’ schools across Afghanistan when the two sides discussed the "current situation in the region". Meanwhile, other reports indicate that Potzel discussed "pressing issues" in the meeting with Karzai.

Meanwhile, in a meeting with Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, the former head of the High Council for National Reconciliation, Markus Potzel emphasized on the need for the participation of all groups in the political, economic, and social life of Afghanistan.

Markus Potzel was recently appointed as the Deputy for Political Affairs of Special Representative of UN Secretary-General in Afghanistan. He previously worked as Germany's Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Affairs.

NRF in a statement said that “recently, media outlets have published reports of a dialogue between the National Resistance Front and the Taliban in Tajikistan, which is not true."

The statement added that the NRF always considers lasting and real peace as the fundamental solution to the problem of Afghanistan. However, according to the NRF, the Taliban does not believe in negotiation and peace and emphasizes on the continuation of its "illegitimate power" through force.

The NRF stressed that they will continue to fight against "tyranny and coercion” with full might, but said that doors for dialogue are still open.

Recently, Russian media had reported that the NRF is going to hold a meeting of political leaders and scholars in Tajikistan. In the meeting, according to these reports, the Taliban had also been invited. The Tajikistan authorities have not yet commented on the issue.

However, it is pertinent to remember that Tajik President Imam Ali Rahman had told Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan on the sidelines of last year's Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting that his country is ready to host peace talks between Afghanistan's "National Resistance Front" and the Taliban in Dushanbe.

Qomi confirmed that after negotiations with the Taliban on the trans-boundary waters of the Helmand River, the Taliban released water from the Kamal Khan dam.

According to Iran’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Affairs, due to the Taliban’s mistake, citizens of Iran's Sistan and Afghanistan's Zaranj provinces faced a scarcity of water.

However, he added that over the next few days, the meetings involving the technical delegations of Iran and the Taliban will be held to discuss the provision of Hamoun wetland’s water rights and the implementation of related treaties.

Citing Iran’s Representative for Afghanistan Affairs, Iranian media have reported that the Taliban have agreed to the implementation of the Hamoun wetland’s water rights treaty.

Iran and Afghanistan signed a treaty in 1972 to use Hirmand water, according to which the annual amount of water that enters Iran from the Hirmand river is quantified.

However, Iran is not satisfied with the amount of water that enters the country.
Qomi hopes that his country will be able to reach a new agreement on the water rights with the Taliban in the near future.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter that they don’t have a good memory of the designation. However, according to Mujahid, the group seeks good, positive, and reliable diplomatic and commercial relations with every country.

US President Joe Biden has informed the US House of Representatives and US Senate that he wants to rescind Afghanistan from the list of "non-NATO major allies".

In 2011, during former US President Barak Obama’s administration, the United States government, designated Afghanistan as one of "America's non-NATO major ally".

This designation has been given to a list of countries that are not members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), but have strategic relations with the United States.