India Sends 20 Tones Of Vaccine Supplies To Afghanistan
India says it has sent 20 tones of essential supplies for BCG, tetanus and diphtheria vaccines to Kabul to support Afghanistan’s child immunisation programme.
India says it has sent 20 tones of essential supplies for BCG, tetanus and diphtheria vaccines to Kabul to support Afghanistan’s child immunisation programme.
Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for India's Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday that India had delivered the medical supplies and vaccine materials to support Afghanistan’s national child immunisation programme.
He described the assistance as an important step towards meeting the needs of Afghanistan’s health sector.
Jaiswal said the shipment includes specialised dry materials used in the preparation of BCG, tetanus and diphtheria vaccines, which are considered vital for children’s health and strengthening immunity.
He stressed that India remains committed to supporting the Afghan people in the healthcare sector.
New Delhi said it would continue its cooperation to improve health services and help save the lives of Afghan children.
India has been strengthening ties with the Taliban and, following the closure of Afghanistan’s border crossings with Pakistan, has repeatedly sent medicine and medical equipment to Kabul.
Pakistan says its policy towards the Taliban will not change unless the group stops supporting militants operating from Afghan soil.
Tahir Andrabi, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said on Friday that relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan are currently shaped by one single factor, the use of Afghan territory to plan, direct and carry out attacks inside Pakistan.
He described groups such as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and the Baloch Liberation Army as the main perpetrators of the attacks and claimed that the Taliban regime is either complicit or allowing them to operate through inaction.
Referring to Pakistan’s retaliatory measures since October last year, Andrabi stressed that Islamabad is seeking written guarantees from the Taliban and that relations will remain tense until such assurances are provided.
The remarks come as political and economic ties between Pakistan and the Taliban have effectively stalled, with direct talks between the two sides also suspended.
Following the latest round of talks in Urumqi, there has been no sign of renewed negotiations between officials from either side.
China is reportedly trying to organise and mediate a new round of talks between Islamabad and the Taliban, but Pakistan appears reluctant to participate due to what it sees as the Taliban’s failure to act against militant groups.
The diplomatic deadlock comes amid a sharp rise in militant attacks across Pakistan, particularly in tribal regions and the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
Islamabad accuses the Taliban of sheltering militants responsible for the violence.
In response to the pressure, the Taliban have stepped up efforts to reduce Afghanistan’s dependence on Pakistan for trade and transit.
In recent months, the Taliban administration has moved closer economically and diplomatically to India, Pakistan’s longstanding rival, while also seeking to strengthen alternative trade routes through Iran and Central Asian countries.
At the same time, the repeated closure of major border crossings between the two countries has caused heavy financial losses for traders on both sides.
International organisations and aid agencies have also expressed serious concern about the humanitarian impact of the border closures, saying Afghan patients who relied on travelling to Pakistan for medical treatment have been among the hardest hit.
Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, has called for a full and independent investigation into Pakistan's recent deadly strike on a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul.
In a message posted on the social network X, Bennett said that more than 269 civilians had been killed in Pakistan's air strike on the addiction rehabilitation hospital in Kabul on 15 March.
Warning of the legal consequences of the action, the UN Special Rapporteur stressed that " deliberate attacks on civilians or civ objects may amount to war crimes." He also called on the Taliban to ensure the safety of patients at such centres.
On the evening of 15 March, Pakistani fighter jets, as part of an operation known as "Ghazab-Lil -Haq", bombed the drug treatment centre in eastern Kabul. Since 2016, the centre had operated as one of the largest addiction-treatment facilities, with a capacity of close to two thousand patients.
While the United Nations has confirmed the deaths of 269 civilians and the wounding of a further 122 in the incident, Taliban officials have put the death toll at more than 400.
At the same time, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have described the attack as unlawful, disproportionate, and possibly a war crime, and have called for an independent investigation and accountability from Islamabad.
The Taliban have described the bombing as a deliberate massacre of patients and civilians and a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, insisting that the Omid centre was purely a medical facility with no connection to any military sites.
Pakistan, by contrast, has rejected these claims, stating that the operation targeted military facilities, an ammunition depot, and terrorist infrastructure linked to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, and that the medical centre was not directly targeted. Islamabad claims that secondary explosions from ammunition stored at the site caused the destruction of, and damage to, adjacent buildings.
The Taliban governor’s spokesman in Baghlan Province said on Friday that at least 15 people were killed in overnight floods, which also destroyed more than 200 homes and vast areas of farmland.
The Taliban Ministry of Public Works also announced on Friday that the Salang Pass highway had been temporarily closed to all traffic due to heavy rainfall and flooding in the northern Salang area.
The ministry urged travellers and drivers not to use the route until further notice.
The spokesman for the Taliban disaster management authority said on Thursday that at least six people had been killed and 11 others injured over the past 24 hours due to lightning, storms and floods in the provinces of Kandahar Province, Herat Province, Ghor Province and Takhar Province.
Afghanistan’s meteorological department has forecast relatively heavy rainfall, thunderstorms and possible flooding in 18 provinces on May 22 and 23.
The Taliban disaster management authority said the affected areas could include Kapisa, Panjshir,Parwan, Bamyan, Maidan Wardak, Balkh, Samangan, Sar-e Pol, Jowzjan, Faryab, Kunduz, Baghlan, Takhar, Badakhshan, Nangarhar, Laghman, Kunar and Nuristan provinces.
The authority urged residents to avoid rivers and flood-prone areas and to follow safety advice carefully.
Pina Picierno, Vice-President of the European Parliament, has warned that any agreement with the Taliban would amount to recognising a regime accused of committing crimes against humanity against women.
She said members of the European Parliament oppose any normalisation of relations with the Taliban.
The warning came after the European Commission recently invited Taliban officials for talks on the return of Afghan refugees, a move criticised by several European politicians and human rights organisations.
Earlier, Hannah Neumann, a member of the European Parliament, reacted to reports of a possible Taliban visit to Brussels in the coming weeks by saying there could be no legitimacy and no deals for the Taliban.
In a critical remark, she said: “EU officials rolling out the red carpet for the Taliban in Brussels.”
The European Commission, however, insisted that the contacts do not amount to formal recognition of the Taliban and are being conducted only at a technical and operational level.
The commission also stated that no senior Taliban leaders would take part in the discussions.
Nevertheless, Picierno said on Thursday in a post on X that she had submitted a written question to the European Commission seeking clarification about the invitation extended to Taliban officials.
She asked how the commission could justify such a move while the United Nations considers the forced return of Afghan refugees contrary to international law and the Court of Justice of the European Union has rejected the deportation of Afghan women.
The vice-president of the European Parliament also referred to the parliament’s recently adopted resolution on Afghanistan, saying lawmakers had condemned widespread violations of women’s rights in the country and opposed any normalisation of relations with the Taliban.
She added that the European Parliament’s message was clear and that the institution stands alongside the democratic opposition in exile.
World Health Organization says women and children are the main victims of natural disasters in Afghanistan, accounting for 75 percent of people displaced by such events.
The organisation said the harsh realities of environmental crises in Afghanistan show that women face significantly higher vulnerability than men during natural disasters.
In a post on X on Thursday, the World Health Organization wrote: “Natural disasters do not affect everyone equally.”
According to the organisation’s findings, around 70 to 80 percent of people who urgently require emergency and humanitarian assistance after natural disasters are women and children.
The organisation said pregnant and breastfeeding women face additional health risks during floods and in the aftermath of such disasters.
The World Health Organization stressed the importance of preparedness, protection and recovery efforts, urging international aid agencies to give special attention to the health and livelihoods of women and children in affected areas.