UN Warns Of Severe Budget Shortfall For Afghanistan Amid Humanitarian Crisis

According to Ahmad, the two sides discussed Afghanistan-Qatar bilateral relations, the enhancement of diplomatic and trade ties, and key regional issues during their meeting.

Meanwhile, Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement regarding the talks, said that Al Thani reaffirmed Qatar’s steadfast support for the Afghan people and its ongoing efforts to help achieve security, stability, and a dignified life in Afghanistan.

The Qatari statement noted that discussions focused on developments in Afghanistan and ways to support the Afghan people, but it did not explicitly mention efforts to strengthen diplomatic or commercial ties.

Nevertheless, Ahmad quoted Al Thani as describing Qatar’s relationship with the Taliban as “close and brotherly,” and expressing satisfaction with the group’s expanding relations with regional countries.

The Qatari foreign minister also highlighted the importance of boosting trade relations between the two countries and advocated for consistent and sustained communication between their private sectors.

During the meeting, Muttaqi thanked Qatar for its “official” invitation, describing the country’s role in the Taliban’s “foreign policy” as significant. He praised Qatar’s efforts in facilitating the Taliban’s engagement with the international community.

Muttaqi further emphasised the need to upgrade diplomatic relations and strengthen bilateral ties, proposing that Qatar invest in Afghanistan’s development and commercial opportunities.

Qatar, a key supporter of the Taliban, previously hosted the group’s political office in Doha, which paved the way for the 18-month negotiations between the Taliban and the United States, prior to the collapse of Afghanistan’s former government.

The Afghanistan Journalists Center announced the five recipients of this year’s award, including four journalists currently working inside Afghanistan: Nasrin Saeedi, Azizullah Wahdat, Mohammad Yousuf Mangal, and Ehsanullah Karimi.

Mazhar’s report was selected by the award jury as one of the top five journalistic works of 2025. His investigation, based on interviews with several men and women formerly detained by the Taliban, exposes the use of sexual violence and abuse as a tool to extract confessions. The report further revealed that detention facilities were reportedly fitted with CCTV cameras, and that Taliban members allegedly recorded instances of assault and abuse on their mobile phones.

Richard Bennett, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, responded to the report, stating he was aware of the allegations and that investigations were underway.

Mazhar, who is also an acclaimed poet, graduated with a degree in Persian language and literature from Kabul University. He has been part of Afghanistan International since its establishment in 2021 and currently works with the network’s investigative reporting unit.

The Afghanistan Journalists Center organises this programme annually, with this year marking the twelfth edition of the awards.

Usman Wazir, a police officer, stated that the blast caused part of the building hosting the meeting to collapse. The identity of the attackers remains unknown, and no group has yet claimed responsibility for the assault.

Further details regarding the incident have not yet been released. South Waziristan is known as a stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban.

In a separate development on Sunday, Pakistan’s military reported that security forces killed nearly 60 militants attempting to cross the border from Afghanistan into Pakistan.

In a statement, the ICRC highlighted the severe economic consequences of this vulnerability, noting that the agricultural sector the main source of income for approximately 80 percent of Afghanistan’s population has been one of the hardest hit by extreme climate events, including droughts, unseasonal rainfall, and floods.

According to the Red Cross, more than 14 million Afghans are currently grappling with severe food insecurity.

Katharina Ritz, head of the ICRC’s delegation in Kabul, stated that farmers and communities dependent on agriculture are facing extremely harsh conditions, warning that challenges could further worsen the country’s already fragile food security situation.

In 2024, the Red Cross provided assistance to over 50,000 Afghan farmers by helping them purchase essential items such as seeds, fertilisers, and farming tools to boost their productivity.

The organisation also noted that decades of armed conflict have damaged many irrigation canals across Afghanistan, severely affecting farmers’ ability to preserve their crops. To tackle this issue, the ICRC has been rehabilitating water sources and improving access to secure irrigation for agricultural lands.

The 13th meeting of the Regional Subcommittee for Polio Eradication and Outbreaks, hosted by the WHO, was held virtually on Sunday. During the session, conflict, humanitarian crises, insecurity, and climate change were identified as major obstacles to polio eradication efforts.

Mansoor bin Ebrahim bin Saad Al-Mahmoud, Qatar’s Minister of Health, stressed that polio remains one of the region’s foremost public health priorities and affirmed that any threat to the health and well-being of children must be eliminated.

In response to the decline in funding for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and its impact on essential healthcare services, including childhood vaccinations, the WHO has introduced emergency measures to ensure the continuation of critical programme activities in endemic and polio-affected countries.

Health ministers and representatives from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen participated in the meeting. Discussions focused on intensifying efforts across the region to reach unvaccinated children and protect them from polio and other preventable diseases.

The subcommittee also issued a statement calling for urgent action to halt the transmission of the wild poliovirus in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It urged member countries, donors, and the international community to sustain their support for these two remaining endemic countries to strengthen polio eradication efforts.