13 people killed, 11 injured in Afghanistan last week

KABUL (Pajhwok): Different statements were made about the agenda of next month’s meeting on Afghanistan in Doha last week, when the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) unanimously adopted a resolution condemning the Islamic Emirate’s decision to ban women from working with the world’s body.

Last week’s major events

• UNSC condemns restrictions on Afghan women, asks for their removal
• Mujahid: Committed to women’s rights, but diversity be respected not politicized
• Vienna meeting asks world to recognize ‘all forms of Afghan resistance’
• Mujahid: Figures abroad cannot create headache to Afghanistan
• UN chief to host Doha meeting on Afghanistan on May 1-2
• Amina: Doha meet to consider IEA recognition, but others say it’s not on agenda
• Japan pledges $19 million in aid to Afghanistan’s health sector

Casualties

Thirteen people were killed and 11 others were injured in various incidents of violence across the country last week.

Two people were killed and nine others were injured in clashes over land disputes in Badghis and Uruzgan provinces. Unidentified gunmen shot dead a school principal in Baghlan, a young man in Uruzgan and a person was stabbed to death in Faryab. A young man was poisoned and then killed in eastern Nangarhar province.

According to reports, five children were killed and two others sustained injuries when an unexploded ordnance went off in central Maidan Wardak province.

Note: These figures are based on reports reaching Pajhwok Afghan News. Some incidents might have gone unreported or sources provided incorrect figures.

In the previous week, 11 people were killed and three others were injured in various incidents across the country.

Before the regime change in August 2021, hundreds of civilians, insurgents and government forces would be killed and wounded every week.

UNSC meeting

The United Nations Security Council Thursday unanimously passed a resolution that condemned the ban on education and work of Afghan women and girls and asked the caretaker government to swiftly reverse its policies and practices restricting women and girls from their human rights.

US envoy to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in a statement following the unanimous adoption of the resolution that the Council sent a clear message to the Taliban condemning their repression of Afghan women and girls.

”The international community will not remain on the sidelines while the women and girls of Afghanistan are deprived of their human rights and fundamental freedoms,” she said.

In response, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan defended the ban as an internal matter of Afghanistan that did not impact operations by the UN or other countries.

A statement from the ministry said: “This is an internal social matter of Afghanistan that does not impact outside states.”

The ministry reminded the UN member states of their commitments to respect the sovereign choices of Afghanistan under international law.

It said: “We remain committed to ensuring the rights of Afghan women while emphasising that diversity must be respected and not politicized.”

The ministry called for the unconditional removal of UN, multilateral and unilateral sanctions on the country, in addition to the provision of humanitarian and development assistance.

Vienna meeting

Last week, a number of opposition figures held a meeting in Vienna, the capital of Austria and emphasized on negotiations and peaceful political solutions as the best way forward.

They asked the international community to recognize ‘all forms of resistance of Afghans’ because the international community did not support armed resistance in Afghanistan.

Islamic Emirate spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in response that the figures who met in Vienna could not heal the pain of Afghans and they would not be given a chance to create headache to Afghanistan.

He said the Afghans knew these figures very well and they had a direct hand in the misfortunes the Afghans suffered during the past few decades.

Doha meeting

Last week, UN deputy head Amina Mohammed implied the Doha meeting “could find those baby steps to put us back on the pathway to recognition.”

However, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Friday: “The Secretary-General has not extended an invitation to the de facto (Afghan) authorities.”

He explained the meeting would discuss the international engagement around common objectives for a durable way forward on Afghanistan.

His deputy Farhan Haq said the Doha meeting would not discuss the recognition of the caretaker government and would focus on creating a consensus to solve the problems in Afghanistan.

Vedant Patel, principal deputy spokesperson at the US State Department, said that the issue of recognizing the caretaker government of Afghanistan was not on the agenda of the Doha meeting.

Russia’s special representative for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov had said he would attend in the meeting on Afghanistan next week in Doha.

Deputy prime minister for administrative affairs Maulvi Abdul Salam Hanafi during a meeting with UN special representative for Afghanistan Markuz Potzel hoped the Doha meeting would consider the Islamic Emirate’s achievements in fighting drugs, corruption and other areas.

Zalmay Khalilzad, former special representative of the United States for peace of Afghanistan, had said that the Doha meeting should produce a roadmap for global engagement with the caretaker government of Afghanistan.

However, the UN says it has not invited the caretaker government in Kabul to the UN-convened meeting in Qatar on the situation in Afghanistan.

Special representatives on Afghanistan from a number of countries are scheduled to attend the conference in Doha on May 1-2.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Friday: “The Secretary-General has not extended an invitation to the de facto (Afghan) authorities.”

Terror center claims

The Washington Post reported Afghanistan had emerged as a significant coordination site for Daesh, which planned attacks across Europe and Asia.

The newspaper cited a classified Pentagon assessment that called the Daesh threat a growing security concern.

In December last year, according to the assessment, Pentagon officials were aware of nine plots coordinated by ISIS leaders in Afghanistan.

But IEA spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid spurned the classified Pentagon assessment as part of an ongoing propaganda campaign against the caretaker Afghan government.

The incumbent government would not allow anyone to use Afghanistan’s territory for attacks against other countries, Mujahid said in a statement.

The IEA has enforced security across Afghanistan, he claimed. “Such reports show some people in America have not forgotten their enmity with the people of Afghanistan.”

Khalilzad also termed the Pentagon assessment “an exaggeration that provokes emotions and is unjustified”.

Continuity of aid

Japan has donated 19 million US dollars to provide vaccines to mothers and children in Afghanistan and to prevent infectious diseases.

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