10 killed, 22 injured in Afghanistan last week

KABUL (Pajhwok): Senior officials from Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Britain and the head of the Muslim World League visited Kabul last week, when a large number of refugees returned from Iran, Tajikistan and Pakistan.

UNAMA claimed that some refugees were tortured after their return to their homeland, but the Islamic Emirate rejected the claim, saying all Afghans were entitled to the general amnesty.

Last week’s major events

• Visits of Pakistani, Uzbek, Britain officials, MWL chief to Kabul
• Muttaqi: Not a single foreign soldier present in Afghanistan
• Mass deportation of Afghan refugees from Iran and some from Tajikistan and Pakistan
• UN urges Iran to gradually deport Afghan refugees
• UNAMA concerns about returnees and IEA response
• Afghanistan, Pakistan cut tariffs on some goods

Casualties:

Ten people were killed and 22 others were injured in separate incidents of violence in Afghanistan last week.

Six people were killed and 18 others were injured during an armed clash between two families over a land dispute in Nangarhar. Similarly, a woman was killed and three others were injured in a dispute between two families in Laghman.

Local officials say that last week, one person lost his life in a physical clash between owners and workers of two gold-washing factories in Badakhshan, unidentified gunmen killed one person in Kandahar, and an old mine explosion in Maidan Wardak province killed one person and injured another.

In the previous week, six people had been killed and another injured in various incidents in Afghanistan.

Before the regime change in 2021, hundreds of civilians, insurgents and securirty forces would get killed and injured every week.

Afghan refugees

Iran has recently stepped up deporting Afghan refugees, with the interim government and aid organizations scrambling to deal with the situation. Reports indicate nearly one million Afghan refugees returned to the country from Iran in less than a month.

Amid ongoing crackdown on Afghans, Iran has extended the deadline for the deportation of Afghans to September 15.

Hamdullah Fitrat, deputy spokesman for the Islamic Emirate, said that last week, approximately 93,500 Afghan refugees returned to Afghanistan from Iran and Pakistan, mostly from Iran.

The returning refugees complain they were mistreated in Iran.

Tariq, a resident of Kabul who was deported from Iran, told Pajhwok Afghan News in Islam Qala in Herat province: “We endured a bad situation in Iran. Iranian police would enter people’s homes and forcefully evict them. I spent 18 days in detention. They didn’t give me back my money, my belongings, and even my mobile phone. They took everything from me. I am very happy to be back in my country now. My country is my own.”

Last week, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi met with Iranian Interior Minister Sikandar Momeni and said that the process of repatriating Afghan refugees should be carried out gradually in order not to put pressure on the government in Afghanistan.

According to reports, the two sides discussed various issues, including Iran’s request for a trilateral meeting involving the country, the Islamic Emirate, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

They talked about increasing financial assistance from international organizations, managing Afghan refugees, and preventing drug trafficking.

In addition, Afghan refugees are also being deported from Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Germany.

Last week, Tajikistan began deporting illegal immigrants, including Afghans, due to concerns about “smuggling and fake documents,” and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) also sent teams to Sher Khan Port to monitor the process.

Afghans were also deported from Pakistan last week. A source in Torkham told Pajhwok that dozens of families returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan every day in the past week.

This comes as the German Interior Ministry announced last Friday that it had deported 81 Afghan asylum seekers from the country and sent them to Kabul.

On the other hand, the Afghan Foreign Ministry also confirmed this news and thanked the government of Qatar for its cooperation in this regard.

UNAMA’s concern about returnees and IEA response

Last week, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) expressed concern in its report about the forced return of Afghans from Iran and Pakistan, saying that many refugees were forcibly returned since 2023.

UNAMA claimed that some of the returnees faced threats, harassment and human rights violations in Afghanistan.

However, Hamdullah Fitrat, deputy spokesman for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, rejected the UNAMA report, saying that all returnees were beneficiaries of the Islamic Emirate’s amnesty decree.

Fitrat said: “All returnees are entitled to amnesty, no one is politically hostile towards them and the government will prevent such incidents if any and punish the perpetrators. So it is not appropriate for UNAMA to raise concerns among the people by spreading propaganda.”

World officials’ visits to Kabul

Last week, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Syed Mohsin Naqvi, Head of the Muslim World League Dr. Muhammad bin Abdul Karim al-Issa, Uzbekistan’s Intelligence Chief General Korbunov Bakhodir, and British Special Representative for Afghanistan Richard Lindsay visited Kabul.

According to reports, Acting Afghan Interior Minister Khalifa Sirajuddin Haqqani, in a meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Syed Mohsin Naqvi, emphasized good treatment of Afghan refugees and prisoners and providing them with necessary facilities, and said that every problem could be solved by creating an atmosphere of trust.

Furthermore, Acting Afghan Foreign Minister Maulvi Amir Khan Muttaqi, in a meeting with Dr. Muhammad bin Abdul Karim al-Issa, discussed recent developments in Afghanistan, the unity of the Islamic world, and challenges it faced. Both sides also emphasized the need to increase such visits and mutual exchanges.

Last week, acting Afghan Minister of National Defense, Maulvi Mohammad Yaqub Mujahid, met with the Director of the Intelligence Service of Uzbekistan, General Bakhodir Korbunov, his deputy, General Makhturov Farrukh, the commander of the country’s border forces, General Khasanova Salimzhan, and the accompanying delegation to discuss strengthening bilateral relations and border cooperation.

The two sides also discussed the establishment of good relations and other related issues.

Also last week, British Special Representative for Afghanistan Richard Lindsay paid his maiden visit to Kabul and met with officials of the Islamic Emirate.

Richard Lindsay said: “I have just returned from my first trip to Kabul as the British Special Representative. I met with a wide range of Afghans, including ministers, and discussed issues related to health, returnees from Iran and Pakistan, and other issues. Afghanistan can only move forward through dialogue and comprehensive interaction.”

Trump’s claim about Chinese presence in Bagram

According to reports, US President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that the Bagram airfield is under the control of Chinese forces and that the previous US government should not have abandoned the important base.

However, acting Afghan Foreign Minister Maulvi Amir Khan Muttaqi, in response to Trump’s statements, said there was not a single foreign military personnel present in the entire Afghanistan and that the IEA did not want a foreign military presence in the country.

Afghanistan, Pakistan cut tariffs on some goods by more than half

Last week, a delegation led by Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce of Afghanistan, Ahmadullah Zahid, visited Pakistan.

The Afghan embassy in Pakistan said the commerce ministries of the two countries signed a preferential tariff agreement to reduce tariffs on some goods by 55 percent.

Under this agreement, tariffs on grapes, pomegranates, apples and tomatoes from Afghanistan to Pakistan and on apples, bananas and potatoes from Pakistan will be reduced from around 60 percent to 27 percent.

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