Iranian Ambassador, Taliban Foreign Minister Meet Twice in Five Days

The World Bank report is highly different than what the Afghan citizens go through in their daily life in Afghanistan.

Many observers said that despite the encouraging figures published by the World Bank on the economic situation of Afghanistan, Afghan people currently struggling with a cold and difficult winter.

Poverty-stricken citizens are facing a harsh winter and must choose between heating materials for their homes and food.

According to observers, a constant flow of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan through the United Nations and other aid organisations has been impactful on the relative stability of afghani against the foreign currency.

Regarding people's access to their savings accounts, the report stated that restrictions on withdrawing money from banks continues to be a challenge.

Companies and individuals who had running accounts in the banks before the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban in 2021, cannot withdraw more than a limited amount from the bank.

The World Bank reported that the civil servants’ salaries have been paid on time in the last two months, and female employees have been paid more regularly than male employees.

However, withdrawing money has not been easy for these employees and they all complained that they had to wait for long hours at the banks.

Meanwhile, people and companies are now depositing little money into their bank accounts, and the financial policies of the Taliban are not transparent.

For example, the central bank of Afghanistan, which determines the foreign exchange rate, doesn’t provide any statistics or information on the issue on its website.

The World Bank report stated that revenue collection of the Taliban remains strong and reached AFN135.9 billion (US$ 1.54 billion) between March 22, 2021, and December 21, 2022.

The World Bank report also stressed that export performance of the Taliban remains strong as during the January to November 2022 period, the Taliban exported US$1.7 billion worth of goods, compared to US$ 0.9 billion and US$ 0.8 billion for the entire year in 2021 and 2020.

The increase in the price and export of coal has been the main reason for the increase in the Taliban's 2022 revenue collection.

According to the World Bank, agricultural products, mining, and textiles, have been the major sources of revenue and export materials of Afghanistan. Around 65 per cent of the products of Afghanistan has been exported to Pakistan and around 20 per cent has ended up in India.

Rabbani and Kabulov emphasised on the importance of cooperation between the two countries for peace and stability in the region.

The statement added that the Pakistani and Russian diplomates have discussed some regional solutions through the "Moscow format" and Afghanistan's neighboring countries.

Rabbani said that a peaceful neighborhood with Afghanistan is a "strategic necessity" for Pakistan.

She emphasised that Afghanistan, having a position as a bridge between Central and South Asia, is at the center of achieving the full potential of socio-economic development and regional engagement.

Pakistan's deputy foreign minister asked the international community to continue providing humanitarian aid and support to the people of Afghanistan.

According to the sources, the ten-year-old child was shot from a close range on Thursday morning and two bullets made contact with the child's chest.

The Taliban have told the local people that they have arrested and imprisoned the accused.

Previously, there have been reports that the Taliban forces killed civilians in different areas, and despite the promises made, none of the perpetrators have been punished.

A UNDP statement stressed that the Centre is funded under the “enhancing capacities of Surkhandarya region to educate and train Afghan citizens” initiative, and is the outcome of a common effort by the EU, UNDP, and the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Innovation of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Charlotte Adrian, the EU representative for Uzbekistan, said that this new initiative is part of the effort through which the EU provides support Afghan citizens who have been displaced and are away from their motherland for reasons out of their control.

She added, “We hope that the project implemented by the UNDP, our long-term partner, will ensure that Afghan citizens living in Uzbekistan benefit from gaining new knowledge and skills that will help them improve their livelihoods and support their families”

International organisations take new initiatives to educate Afghans outside Afghanistan at a time when inside the country, the Taliban has imposed serve restrictions on Afghan citizens, particularly women and girls across the country.

Girls have been banned from schools and universities, and according to human rights organisations, the Taliban has been slowly eradicating them from social life.

In an interview with Afghanistan International on Wednesday, he said that Ashraf Ghani appointed incompetent army officers to head the security institutions of Afghanistan.

The former Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army stressed that the Afghan army was well-trained and equipped, however, indirectly he also approved former president’s inner circle’s narrative that the Afghan army collapsed due to global and regional conspiracy and the Taliban took over Afghanistan.

However, in the interview, General Murad blamed the presidential palace for the defeat of the previous government’s army in Afghanistan; a criticism that Ghani, his former Vice-President Armullah Saleh, and other senior aides to the former president rejected.

Murad accused Ghani and his security team of "pulling out experienced and educated generals from the leadership of the Afghan army, police and other security agencies and appointing inexperienced junior and young officers at leading positions of the security and defense forces”.

Ashraf Ghani's government, within the framework of the plan to reform the Afghan security forces, had retired and dismissed hundreds of military personnel and placed some young military personnel at important positions, such as the command of the army corps.

During this interview, Murad did not try to analyse the collapse of the Afghan army from a military point of view and stressed that there was a conspiracy against the security forces inside the government.

He said, "The enemies fought with us during the day and were equipped and financed at night. Even their wounded were dragged from the battlefield.”