7 killed, 5 wounded in Afghanistan last week

KABUL (Pajhwok): Last week, some institutions expressed concerns at the economic and security situation in Afghanistan, but the Islamic Emirate dismissed the apprehensions as groundless and part of a propaganda campaign.

Afghanistan was pledged $1.1 million in and joint exhibitions were held in Kabul and Ashgabat.

Key events of last week

• Qatari, Afghan officials talk strengthening ties
• UNAMA: Curbs on women, girls be reversed; IEA: Women rights ensured.
• Bennett concerned at human rights situation; Mujahid scorns propaganda
• IEA: Fake claims regarding HR situation is an attempt to defame Islamic system.
• UN: Insecurity surged in Afghanistan; Mujahid: UN report is selfish.
• Joint exhibitions held with Turkmenistan and Iran.
• KSrelief provides $1.1m in aid to Afghanistan.

Casualties

Last week, seven people were killed and five others wounded across Afghanistan in various incidents.

According to local officials, two children were killed and four others woudned as a result of an unexploded shell blast in Paktia,.

Security forces rescued a child and killed two kidnappers during an operation. Unidentified gunmen killed a former commander and a 26-year-old man in Faryab.

In the same province, an alleged murderer was killed by the relatives of the deceased while returning from the court. Security forces arrested the shooter after being injured.

Note: Casualty figures here are based on Pajhwok Afghan News reports. There is a possibility that some incidents may have gone unreported or sources could have provided wrong figures.

According to reports,during the previous week, five people had been killed and three others injured in different incidents.

Before the regime change in Afghanistan in August 15, 2021, besides criminal incidents, hundreds of civilians and security personnel would be killed and injured every week.

Defence Minister’s trip to Qatar

Acting Defence Minister Maulvi Mohammad Yaqub Mujahid and Army Chief Qari FasihuddinFetrat travelled to Qatar to attend the Doha International Maritime Defense Exhibition (Dimdex).

Yaqub Mujahid met Qatar’s deputy amir besides participating in DIMDEX.

Yaqub Mujahid and his Qatari counterpart discussed ways to further strengthen relations between Afghanistan and Qatar.

Internationl Women’s Day

March 8 is marked as International Women's Day; this day is celebrated as Women's Solidarity Day all over the world.

On International Women’s Day, the UN’s top diplomat in Afghanistan reiterated her call for the caretaker government to reverse the restrictions imposed on women and girls.

The longer the curbs remained in place, the more damage they would result in and would push the country into deeper poverty and isolation, warned Roza Otunbayeva, special representative of the secretary-general (SRSG).

“As we mark this year’s International Women’s Day, the global theme of ‘invest in women’ should be a moment when we redouble our efforts to unlock even greater progress,” said Otunbayeva.

However, IEA’s deputy spokesman Mullah Hamdullah Fitrat said in a statement on X: “Women’s rights have not been respected by any system. But the Islamic system has ensured all Sharia-based rights of women.”

Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Afghanistan, addressed a press conference regarding his recent report, which highlighted the deterioration of the human rights situation under IEA.

"We have documented public executions and corporal punishments recently. Peaceful dissent is stifled. Violence and the threat of violence are used with impunity to control and instill fear in the population. Those responsible for this must be held to account,” Bennett stressed.

But government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, responding to Bennett's remarks, said his report on the human rights situation was an attempt to spread propaganda against IEA.

Mujahid said compared to the past, all Afghans, women and men, enjoyed physical, financial and spiritual security.

Before Bennet's report, Mujahid posted a video on X about the human rights situation in Gaza. He wrote the issue of human rights was being misused in Afghanistan at a time when innocent Palestinians were being massacred ruthlessly.

Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund alleged the world, turning a blind ey to atrocities against the Palestinians, was harping on human rights violations in Afghanistan to denigrate the Islmaic system.

Former Afghan ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Salaam Zaeef said getting modern education of science and technology in the current circumstances was compulsory.

On his X handle, Zaeef wrote as helplessness of the Islamic world taught him that getting the knowledge of modern technology was Farz-e-Aain, and it was responsibility of Muslim rulers to defend Muslim territories with means that could not be arranged without modern education.

Mujahid scorns UN report on security

A few days ago, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres presented his quarterly report on Afghanistan to the Security Council, The report claimed the number of security incidents in Afghanistan between November 1 last year and January 10, 2024 had increased compared to the same period of 2022-2023.

According to the UN report 1,508 incidents of insecurity happened from November 2023 till January 2024. During the period, the report said, there was a 38 percent surge in violent incidents this year.

But IEA, in a statement on Thursday, termed part of the UN report regarding the surge in incidents of insecurity as biased and incorrect.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan considers this report incorrect, and calls it a misuse of the United Nations’ name and title,” the statement reads.

"While the security forces of the Islamic Emirate are fighting against the corrupt, robbers, kidnappers and smugglers every day in different parts of the country. In these areas, there has been a positive change and these incidents have considerably decreased."

Australia’s Institute for Economics and Peace said in a recent report that in 2023, Afghanistan was among the countries with the lowest rate of terror incidents.

In its report, the institute said there was an 81 percent fall in terrorist activities in 2023 in Afghanistan. It said for the first time since 2019, the impact of terrorism had declined.

Joint exhibitions in Kabul, Ashgabat

Last week, the Afghan-Turkmen trade conference and Afghan products’ exhibition were held in Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan. Another international exhibition of Iranian and Afghan products was arranged in Kabul.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry said the Afghan-Turkmen business communication conference and the Afghan products exhibition were held in Ashqabat.

More than 300 businessmen and an economic delegation of the Islamic Emirate participated in the opening session of the exhibition.

Acting minister Nooruddin Azizi said on the occasion Afghanistan had the ability to become an industrial country and could serve as a regional industrial hub.

Humanitarian aid

Last week, the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) pledged 1.1 million to the Afghanistan Humanitarian Trust Fund (AHTF) to provide quality health services in central Bamyan province.

The UN food agency expressed its concern over dwindling assistance to Afghanistan, warning the situation was getting worse.

sa/mud