(MENAFN- Pajhwok Afghan News)
KABUL (Pajhwok): Last week, several organisations called on Pakistan to halt the arrest and harassment of Afghan refugees.
Istead of heeding such calls, Islamabad once again launched rocket attacks on areas in eastern Kunar province.
US President-elect Donald trump claimed the Biden administration had provided billions of dollars to the Afghan government.
However, both the caretaker government in Kabul and the Biden administration rejected this claim as groundless.
Key events of last week:
Pakistan asked to revoke its decision on expelling refugees.
Khalilzad: Islamabad is meet propaganda against Kabul.
Pakistan conducts rocket attacks on Kunar; IEA slams strikes.
Trump: Biden govt has given IEA billions of dollars
US has given us no aid, it has seized Afghan assets: IEA
White House: US assistance sent to Afghan people
Tehran pursuing water rights, Kabul says issue resolved
Luxembourg, Spain give Afghanistan nearly $3m in aid
Casualties:
Last week, four people were killed and two others wounded in various incidents across Afghanistan.
According to local sources, an intoxicated man shot dead his two brothers and injured his sister-in-law. In Badakhshan, a man gunned down his mother.
In Baghlan, the police chief said that unidentified gunmen shot dead one religious scholar and injured another.
Note: These figures are based on reports reaching Pajhwok Afghan News. Some incidents may have gone unreported or sources could have provided incorrect figures.
During the previous week, one individual had been killed and four others wounded across the country.
Before the regime change in 2021, hundreds of civilians, insurgents and security personnel would be killed and maimed every week.
Arrest, harassment of Afghans in Pakistan
A month ago, Pakistan's interior minister had announced after December 31, 2024, no Afghan migrant would have the right to live in Islamabad without a no-objection certificate.
Last week, Pakistani security agencies have reportedly been conducting house-to-house searches in various parts of Islamabad, detaining about 800 Afghan nationals, including individuals with valid viass, PoR and ACC cards.
Afghan officials, Amenisty International and UNHCR asked Pakistan to stop harassing Afghans.
OIC meeting in Pakistan
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held a conference - Girls' Education in Muslim Communities: Challenges and Opportunities -in Islamabad.
On Friday, Pakistan's Education Minister Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan had also been invited to the meeting.
But the IEA did not comment on receiving the invitation or participation in the two-day conference.
Former US special representative for Afghanistan ZalmayKhalilzad slammed the meeting on girls' education as part of Islamabad's ongoing conflict with the caretaker government in Kabul.
Khalilzad wrote on his X handle:“Pakistan is organising an Islamic conference on women's education targeting #Afghanistan to embarrass the IEA leader who has imposed severe limitations on women's education.
He clarified:“Obviously, this is not out of any sincere concern for Afghan women, but rather is a propaganda move as part of ongoing conflict with the IEA. But sometimes, even your enemy can end up doing you a favour.”
The US diplomat criticised the suspension of girls' education in Afghanistan, saying it was up to Afghans to resolve this issue.
Soon after returning to power in 2021, IEA banned girls above the sixth grade from going to schools and then extended the ban to university education.
Both domestic and international parties have urged the Islamic Emirate to lift the restrictions on girls' education.
IEA has repeatedly said the ban is temporary and girls will be allowed to resume studies once a suitable environment is created.
Pakistani rockets attack on Kunar
Some residents of eastern Kunar province say Pakistani forces fired rockets into two districts, forcing many families to flee their homes. Afghan forces also carried out retaliatory strikes.
IEA spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said :“In Kunar, rockets hit certain areas causing casualties. Livestock, in particular,, have been killed. We condemn these rocket attacks by Pakistan and demand the cessation of such actions.”
Mujahid said that such attacks by Pakistan on Afghanistan were not in the interest of either side and harmed relations between the two countries.
On December 25, Pakistan carried out airstrikes on several areas of the Barmal district of Paktika province. Afghan officials said around 52 people lost their lives in the strikes and 40 others were injured.
According to officials, most of the victims were civilians, including some displaced people from Waziristan, women and children.
The Afghan Ministry of Defence had then said that air raids were carried out on several positions across the Durand Line, targeting“the hideouts and centers of evil elements and their supporters, from where attacks were organised against Afghanistan.”
Reactions to Trump's claim
On Tuesday, US President-elect Donald Trump strongly criticised the Biden administration, claiming billions of dollars were being transferred to Afghanistan's caretaker government.
Speaking at a press conference in Florida, Trump said:“It's not even believable. Billions of dollars, not millions, billions. We pay billions of dollars to essentially the Taliban in Afghanistan. And that's given by Biden.”
Hamdullah Fitrat, deputy spokesman for IEA, also rejected Trump's claim, saying:“The reality is that the US has not provided even a single penny in aid; instead, it has frozen the assets of the Afghan people.”
Fitrat added the IEA did not expect any assistance or support from the United States and would never seek it.
In response to Trump, a White House National Security communications sdvisor clarified the humanitarian aid sent to Afghanistan was specifically intended to reach the Afghan people, not the IEA.
The advisor said:“The aid is systematically organised to ensure it reaches the people of Afghanistan.”
Iran on water rights
Esmail Baghaei, spokesperson for Iran's foreign ministry, said Tehran was utilising all available tools to address this issue of water rights, which is also a priority for Iran's embassy in Kabul.
However, Deputy Prime Minister for Political Affairs Maulvi Abdul Kabir, in a meeting with with Iranian Ambassador Ali Reza Bigdeli, said the issue of water rights between Afghanistan and Iran had been resolved through mutual understanding, and irresponsible statements in this regard could negatively impact bilateral relations.
The Afghanistan-Iran water treaty was signed in 1972 between Afghanistan's then prime minister Musa Shafiq and Iran's former premier Amir Abbas Hoveyda.
Continuation of assistance
Luxembourg has pledged $1.56 million (EUR 1.50 million) and Spain EUR 1 million (US$1.1 million) in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan last week.
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