French Journalists Urge Paris to Speed Up Evacuation of Afghan Journalists

The UK Charge d’Affaires for Afghanistan reacted to a statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin who had said that western intelligence services, primarily American and British, fuel the formations opposing the Taliban, and stressed that these efforts are aimed at shelling the borders of Central Asian countries.

Shorter called Putin’s statement “classic disinformation” and that the UK supports stability, human rights, and good governance in Afghanistan.

Earlier, the Russian president had also emphasised that they had to prevent the return of civil war in Afghanistan. Putin added that he was aware of the dangers in the country and maintains necessary contacts with the Taliban leadership.

Meanwhile, Tomas Niklasson, the European Union's Special Representative for Afghanistan, had also said that he agreed with Putin for the first time that civil war in Afghanistan is not in the interest of the people of Afghanistan and Central Asia.

More than a year after foreign forces withdrew and the Taliban took power across the whole of Afghanistan, the country’s economy has withered and development aid and assets are still largely frozen, leaving the country facing its most serious risk of famine in 20 years. The past 12 months have seen Afghanistan’s fragile economy crumble, jobs disappear, livelihoods vanish, and climate shocks destroy homes and livelihoods.

GHI scores are based on the values of four component indicators – undernourishment, child stunting, child wasting, child mortality. While undernourishment represents the share of the population with insufficient caloric intake, child stunting indicates the share of children under age five who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition. Child wasting reflects acute undernutrition in children under age five with low weight for their height.

For 15 countries -- including Guinea, Mozambique, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Burundi, Somalia, South Sudan, and Syria -- ranks could not be determined owing to lack of data, the report said.

A higher score in the index implies a worsening hunger situation, whereas zero is the best score – indicating no hunger. The GHI assigns the scores in five severity levels – low (9.9 or less), moderate (10.0-19.9), serious (20.0-34.9), alarming (35.0-49.9) and extremely alarming (50 or higher).

The latest index was published jointly on 13 October by international humanitarian organisation Concern Worldwide and Germany's Welthungerhilfe – one of the largest private aid organisations in the world.

Afghanistan (109th), India (107th) and Pakistan (99th) are the bottom three countries in South Asia.

The GHI found that South Asia has the world's highest levels of child stunting (low body weight to height) and child wasting (malnourished or emaciated) while south Saharan countries in Africa have the highest levels of undernourishment and child mortality rates.

Several officials of the previous government including former foreign minister, Hanif Atmar, and former intelligence chief Masoom Stanekzai are among the founders of the Afghanistan National Movement for Peace and Justice.

There are many other political groups that have formed over the past year. The Supreme Council of National Resistance for the Salvation of Afghanistan is another prominent group.

Former Balkh governor Atta Mohammad Noor; former vice-president Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum; Hazara leader Mohammad Mohaqiq; anti-Taliban Jihadi leader Abdul Rab Rasool Sayyaf; former speaker of Afghan Lower House of Parliament Mir Rahman Rahmani; former Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani; jihadi leader Ismail Khan and some other political figures of Afghanistan are some members of the group.

HRW stated that with many human rights issues in the country, protections for people with disabilities have weakened.

There are 4.4 million Afghans with disabilities who are stranded in the country with limited access to services, or have fled as refugees to other countries.

"People with disabilities in Afghanistan face discrimination, limited services, and a lack of a legislative or institutional framework to ensure their fundamental rights," HRW said in its report.

Afghanistan first celebrated White Cane Safety Day in 2011.

In Afghanistan, Rahyab, an organisation of people with disabilities that has been providing education and rehabilitation for people with visual disabilities, started promoting the White Cane Day celebration to advocate for the rights of people with vision impairments.

Mahmoud Saikal, Afghanistan’s former permanent representative to the UN, who is a supporter of the NRF, without directly referring to the Massoud and Mohib meeting, said, "In dealing with the present and future of the country, it is necessary to review the developments of the past 21 years."

According to Saikal, one should learn from the big mistakes and the factors that turned unprecedented opportunities into challenges and resulted in the collapse of the political system.

Afghanistan International first reported on Friday, that Hamdullah Mohib had discussed the future of Afghanistan with Ahmad Massoud.

Later, Mohib confirmed the news on his Twitter and explained that he had a conversation with Massoud about the revival of democracy and the republic political system. Mohib also stressed on uploading the national values and flag of Afghanistan.

However, Mohiuddin Mahdi, a former member of parliament in Afghanistan, responded to Mohib, saying that a referendum is the only mechanism that would define the national values and determine the national flag in Afghanistan.

Mahdi emphasised that until the referendum is held, "there will be no national value and no national flag".

Mohib's stance has been welcomed too. Among others, a Twitter user Aminullah Ansari replied to Mohib and stated that Afghanistan will not be built by war and without national consensus.