Czech Republic To Permanently Shut Down Embassy in Afghanistan

In a joint statement issued by the two leaders, Xi and Sharif have expressed their satisfaction with the results of the three meetings that the foreign ministers of the neighbouring countries of Afghanistan had held on the situation of the Central Asian country.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister visited Beijing during the week and discussed China’s major economic projects in Pakistan with President Xi Jinping

China and Pakistan enjoy close economic and political ties. The two countries continue to work closely with the Taliban after the group took over Afghanistan in August 2021.

In the past year, China has been vocal about its aid support to the Taliban and economic projects, including the mining sector in Afghanistan.

Islamabad has also pushed hard to recognise the government of the Taliban, but the strict laws of the Taliban on women and girls have been a major issue that no regional player, including Pakistan, can recognise the group as a legitimate Afghan government.

The Central Bank stressed that these donations have been delivered to a commercial bank in Kabul.

The Central Bank announced that they appreciate the international community’s assistance to Afghanistan and urged for more interaction with the country in other banking sectors.

In a statement, the bank added that humanitarian aid through the banking sector creates transparency and facilitates access to humanitarian aid to all Afghans.

Earlier, United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) had stated that the international community doesn’t hand over humanitarian aid meant to be for the Afghan people to the Taliban or the group’s controlled Central Bank. UNAMA stated that this aid has been distributed by the United Nations and its partners in Afghanistan.

However, several former Afghan security forces members have told Afghanistan International that Moscow has been recruiting former Afghan army commandos through Iran to fight in Ukraine.

According to the sources, the Iranian government’s representatives have been enlisting former Afghan soldiers in Iran to be deployed in the war in Ukraine.

Sources said that the former soldiers of Afghanistan have been promised Russian citizenship and good living standards in exchange for fighting in the war in Ukraine.

Faiq addressed the UN General Assembly (UNGA) which was held on November 1 and discussed the report of the UN Human Rights Council.

In the UNGA meeting, Afghanistan’s Permanent Representative called the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan alarming and said that as a result of the long war and natural disasters, Afghan women, girls, and children have suffered the most.

Faiq emphasised that depriving Afghan women of basic rights and being deprived of education and employment have weakened them tremendously.

Earlier, Richard Bennett, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights for Afghanistan, had expressed concerns about the deterioration of the human rights situation in Afghanistan.

He pointed out that the human rights crisis in Afghanistan has deepened under the Taliban reign of Afghanistan.

Faiq also said that the human rights in Afghanistan as reflected in the quarterly reports of the UN Secretary-General and the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights are concerning.

According to Afghanistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, human rights violations include mistreatment and continuous violation of human rights, violations of international humanitarian law, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detentions, forced migrations, collective punishment, violence against peaceful protests and journalists, retaliation against the former defense and security forces.

Faiq stressed that the Taliban’s imposed prejudiced policies to limit the basic rights and freedoms of women and girls, including freedom of movement, the right to education, work, and participation in social activities, have all been contrary to the principles of international human rights conventions and treaties.

Other watchdog groups and human rights activists have continuously said that the Taliban has intensified attacks on women in response to Afghan women's protests.

According to the latest reports, the intensification of repression and assault on women has increased sharply in Kabul in recent weeks.

The German foreign minister strongly criticised the Taliban’s policies and said that Berlin is against the group's actions and policies.

However, the Foreign Minister of Uzbekistan, said that Tashkent aims to help Afghanistan in order to prevent a humanitarian crisis.

Vladimir Norov added that it is necessary for the international community to release the frozen assets of Afghanistan.

The German Foreign Minister, however, said that she doesn’t agree with her Uzbek counterpart on Afghanistan.

She stressed that Germany continues to help the people of Afghanistan. The German foreign minister added that Berlin “has decided to relocate thousands of people to Germany through Uzbekistan every month".