Tag: ghani

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Banks, ATMs in Afghanistan shut for 7th day

Banks and cash machines in Afghanistan stay closed for the seventh day in a row…..reports Asian Lite News

 Afghans are becoming increasingly scared they may run out of money, as banks remain shut for the seventh day in Afghanistan.

Banks and cash machines in Afghanistan stay closed for the seventh day in a row.

There’s no cash inside the machines, no operational banks and no Western Union offices, which is where people from overseas would normally transfer money to. With these closed, it’s now near impossible to send money into the country, BBC reported.

People say they are running out of funds and anxiety is growing across the capital and other cities.

Pen Farthing, an ex-marine who now runs an animal rescue centre in Kabul, said he can’t pay his staff and people are running out of food.

“Eight days since the banks closed in Kabul and across Afghanistan. ATM machines are empty”, said a twitter comment.

“For now I want food for my 3 children. We had bread today with sweet tea. Gas is too expensive, all banks closed, other food stuff shortage in Kabul stores, cant find mobile top up – and also afraid for our lives”, One of group members texted this Friday morning, said a twitter post.

‘Ghani wasn’t prepared’

Ashraf Ghani, the ousted president of Afghanistan, was far from prepared for Taliban takeover and he fled on Sunday with only the clothes he was wearing, a former senior official of Afghanistan ousted government said.

Providing vivid details of the last weeks’ events which led to the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, the former officials said that the advisors were stunned by the speed of the Taliban’s advance on the capital of Kabul, reported CNN.

According to the report, a senior member of the Ghani administration met in Kabul with a prominent member of a group allied to both the Taliban and al Qaeda, who told him bluntly that the government must surrender.

“In the days leading up to the Taliban coming in Kabul, we had been working on a deal with the US to hand over peacefully to an inclusive government and for President Ghani to resign,” he said.

“These talks were underway when the Taliban came into the city. The Taliban entering Kabul city from multiple points was interpreted by our intelligence as hostile advances,” the senior official said.

“We had received intelligence for over a year that the President would be killed in the event of a takeover,” the official added.

According to the official, Afghan First Vice President Amrullah Saleh fled to Panjshir Valley on Sunday morning.

Many others fled the presidential compound “shortly after when there was gunfire outside the palace. People in the city were panicked and many security personnel abandoned their posts.”

“At that point, our goal was to save the city and its citizens from fighting in the streets. This was maintained and the deal we had started negotiating (that) continues today in the hands of (former Afghan chief executive) Abdullah Abdullah and (former President Hamid) Karzai.”

The official said that Ghani left in haste. “He went to Termez in Uzbekistan, where he spent one night and then from there to the UAE (United Arab Emirates). There was no money with him. He literally just had the clothes he was wearing.”

The official’s claims are in contrast to reports saying that Ghani left Kabul with millions of dollars in case.

Ghani too has rejected these claims, saying he left the country to avert bloodshed, and that he fled without even changing his shoes. (IANS/ANI)

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Ashraf Ghani is a crook, says Trump

Washington, Oct. 2, 2020 (Xinhua) -- File photo taken on Sept. 3, 2020 shows U.S. President Donald Trump participating in a campaign rally in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, the United States. Trump said early Friday morning that he and his wife, Melania, have tested positive for COVID-19, after a close aide had contracted the virus. (Xinhua/Liu Jie/IANS)

Trump also echoed the above allegations against Ghani and said that he suspected that the former Afghan president did leave Kabul on Sunday with cash…reports Asian Lite News.

Former president Donald Trump, who has emerged as one of the strongest critics of the current administration over the worsening situation in Afghanistan after the Taliban’s takeover, hit out at former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani.

Ghani, who fled Afghanistan on August 15 after the Taliban took over the capital city of Kabul, has been facing global criticism for abandoning the people of his country. A slew of allegations has surfaced against him, including fleeing Kabul with four cars and a helicopter full of cash and stealing $169 million from state coffers.

Donald Trump, who was giving an interview to Fox News on Tuesday night, said he “never had full confidence in Ashraf Ghani”. “I said that openly and plainly I thought he was a total crook. He spent all his time wining and dining our senators,” Trump said, adding the senators were always in Ghani’s pockets.

The Republican leader accused Ghani of getting away with murder in many, many different ways. However, he didn’t elaborate on what these ways were. Trump also echoed the above allegations against Ghani and said that he suspected that the former Afghan president did leave Kabul on Sunday with cash.

Meanwhile, Ashraf Ghani, who is currently in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with his family on ‘humanitarian grounds’, said that he is currently in talks to come back home. Releasing a video statement on Wednesday, Ghani said he was forced to leave Afghanistan “with one set of traditional clothes, a vest and the sandals”, adding he also left the country in an attempt to avoid bloodshed.

The former president also dismissed allegations of fleeing Kabul with suitcases full of cash by calling them baseless. “Do not believe whoever tells you that your president sold you out and fled for his own advantage and to save his own life,” he said in the video statement.

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Ghani Exits As Talib Army Enter Kabul

Nobel laureate and a victim of Taliban atrocities Malala Yousafzai says she is “deeply worried about women, minorities and human rights advocates” as the Taliban takes control in Afghanistan…reports Asian Lite News.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has left the country bound for Tajikistan as Taliban troops enter the capital city.

The Taliban order their fighters to refrain from violence and allow safe passage for anyone wanting to leave, BBC reported. They say members of the Afghan security forces will be allowed to return to their homes.

Earlier in the day, acting defense minister Bismillah Mohammadi said that the president has handed the authority of solving the crisis in the country to political leaders, Tolo News reported.

Mohammadi said that a delegation will travel to Doha on Monday for talks on the country’s situation.

The delegation includes key political leaders, including Younus Qanooni, Ahmad Wali Massoud, Mohammad Mohaqiq among others.

Sources close to the Taliban said that it has been agreed that Ghani will resign after a political agreement and hand the power to a transitional government.

Afghans have said that they seek a political settlement and an end to the ongoing violence in the country.

Eyewitnesses say the militants met little resistance along the way to the capital.  The Taliban capture more territory, including the former US airbase at Bagram and the central Bamiyan province.

Vice-president Amrullah Saleh is also reported to have fled. Mr Ghani has come under increasing pressure to resign as major cities around Afghanistan have fallen to Taliban militants over the course of 10 days.

In another development, Nobel laureate and a victim of Taliban atrocities Malala Yousafzai says she is “deeply worried about women, minorities and human rights advocates” as the Taliban takes control in Afghanistan.

The women’s rights and education activist urged global powers to call for “an immediate ceasefire” and to protect refugees and civilians.

There is concern that under Taliban rule, women’s rights could deteriorate in Afghanistan. When the militants previously ruled the country, girls over the age of 12 did not receive an education and women could not leave their house without a face covering and a male relative chaperoning them.

Residents flee city

People in Kabul have been fleeing the capital as news of the Taliban advance emerges. Long queues of cars have formed as people try to find a way out of the city. Banks have also been busy as residents try to withdraw their savings, BBC reported.

  Afghan MP Farzana Kochai describeD the scene: “I’m in my house and looking at the people who are just trying to run.”

 She continues: “I don’t know where they’re trying to go, even in the streets and from their houses, their bags they are carrying… and all these things. It’s heartbreaking, you know.”

 Earlier, Pakistan said it was closing the Torkham border crossing with Afghanistan after the militants seized the Afghan side of the border, according to reports.  This leaves Kabul International Airport as the only way out of the country.

Afghan radio reports said that the road to Kabul’s international airport is clogged with thousands of people who are rushing to leave the country.

 Thousands of others stand in long queues, stretching for kilometres, outside the capital’s only passport office, desperately trying to secure travel documents.

Others frantically rush around downtown Kabul, a city of some 5 million people, running last-minute errands before fleeing their homes.

The fear and panic gripping Kabul is palpable as the Taliban militant group marches on the capital following a devastating, months long military offensive during which it has seized large swaths of the war-torn country.

“It’s a feeling of shock and sadness compounded by brutal uncertainty,” says Timor Sharan, a former civil servant and the director of the Afghanistan Policy Lab, a Kabul-based think tank. “Shopping in the city today, I felt people were gripped by a sense of being stuck; stuck in an uncertain future and never able to dream, aspire, think, and believe anymore.”

  Meanwhile, the price of some food staples like flour has surged by 30 percent, while gas prices have almost doubled in recent weeks, even as poverty spreads and a humanitarian crisis worsens.

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Ghani slamsTaliban for refusing peace talks

Ghani said that the Taliban are not committed to peace, and hinted at a new plan to change the situation…reports Asian Lite News

Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani has asked the Taliban whether they want foreign fighters like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Al-Qaeda to turn Afghanistan into a battleground for “foreign terrorist”, Pajhwok News reported.

He said that Afghan people do not know what the Taliban has promised to these groups, but they would not allow their country to become a battleground for terrorist groups.

Ghani said that the Taliban are not committed to peace, and hinted at a new plan to change the situation, saying political interference in the security sector was behind the fall of some areas.

After offering Eid prayers at the Presidential palace, Ghani paid tributes to the security forces, saying they have rendered great sacrifices and this year’s Eid is named “Soldier’s Eid”.

Ghani, referring to the visit of a delegation led by Abdullah Abdullah, head of the National Reconciliation Council, to Doha and two days of talks with Taliban representatives there, said the government sent the delegation to Qatar to try for peace.

As per the report, he accused the Taliban of having no intention of making peace.

“If you are Afghans, come and unite within the framework of Afghanism. Do you have a positive message for the people of Afghanistan, especially women,” he asked, as per the report.

Ghani said the Afghan government had released 5,000 Taliban prisoners, but most of them went to the battlefield.

“It was a mistake to release 5,000 prisoners because the Taliban have not yet started peace talks,” he said.

According to the President, the nation should now ask the Taliban why they are destroying facilities, conducting kangaroo trials and planting bombs, the report said.

Ghani said the Taliban have destroyed 260 public buildings and if they are true Afghans, they should stop destroying public property and not damage people’s homes.

In the last two months, many districts have fallen to the Taliban in Afghanistan. Some claim that the districts were handed over to the Taliban under a deal.

But Ghani said: “The fall of some areas was not a deal and the names of those who have made the deal will be challenged hundreds of years later.”

As per the report, Ghani said the handover of areas by security forces to the armed opposition was an insult to the “sacred uniform” and that he, as the commander of the armed forces, did not accept that politicians should interfere in the security sector.

“The security sector should be safe from the interference of politicians and appointments and changes in the sector should be based on merit, not on the orders of politicians, because the interference of politicians has led to the collapse of some areas,” Ghani added.

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Rockets land in Kabul as Ghani gives Eid speech

The incident reported minutes ahead of a speech by President Ashraf Ghani marking the start of the Muslim holiday of Eid Al-Adha….reports Asian Lite News

During the morning Eid prayers on Tuesday, three rockets landed in areas near the Presidential Palace during Eid prayers, Tolo News reported.

The incident reported minutes ahead of a speech by President Ashraf Ghani marking the start of the Muslim holiday of Eid Al-Adha.

The rockets were fired at around 8:00 am from the Parwan-e-Se area and landed in Bagh-e-Ali Mardan and Chaman-e-Hozori areas in Kabul’s District 1 and Manabe Bashari area in Kabul’s District 2.

The landing were heard across the heavily fortified Green Zone that houses the presidential palace and several embassies, including the US mission, it was reported.

“Today the enemies of Afghanistan launched rocket attacks in different parts of Kabul city,” reports quoted interior ministry spokesman Mirwais Stanikzai as saying.

“All the rockets hit three different parts. Based on our initial information, we have no casualties. Our team is investigating,” he added.

Ghani speaking at a ceremony after Eid prayers slammed the Taliban saying that they have “no will for peace”.

He said, “This Eid has been named after Afghan forces to honour their sacrifices and courage, the Taliban showed that they have no will for peace” and added that “we will make decisions based on that,” reported Tolo News.

Meanwhile, representatives from fifteen NATO members in Afghanistan, in a joint statement, urged the Taliban to put the ongoing violation to an end.

The statement was jointly issued by Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, the EU Delegation, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, the Office of NATO and Senior Civilian Representative, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States, The Khaama Press reported citing the statement.

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The statement slammed the Taliban over targeted assassinations in Afghanistan, destruction of infrastructures, threats, declarations, and other actions against the gains of the past 20 years.

In the recent developments, the United States termed the Afghan government and Taliban meeting in Doha as “a positive step” and noted that “more must be done urgently” as Afghans are suffering terribly from the war.

Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that the Taliban should “end the occupation” in Afghanistan amid rising violence in the war-torn country.

“The Taliban should end the occupation of the soil of their brothers,” Erdogan stated on Monday in a press conference upon his departure to Northern Cyprus.

Erdogan also said that Turkey plans to talk with the Taliban over Kabul airport, Daily Sabah reported.

Turkey, whose forces in Afghanistan have always consisted of noncombatant troops, has offered to guard the airport as questions remain on how security will be assured along major transport routes and at the airport, which is the main gateway to the capital Kabul.

The security of the airport is crucial for the operation of diplomatic missions out of Afghanistan as Western forces pull out.

The airport is in a strategic location close to the Afghan presidential palace and foreign diplomatic missions in Kabul and is the only place from which to evacuate diplomats in emergency situations.

The Taliban warned Turkey against possible plans to keep some troops in Afghanistan to run and guard Kabul’s main airport after the withdrawal of foreign troops, calling the strategy “reprehensible”.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan condemns this reprehensible decision,” the terror group said in a statement.

“If Turkish officials fail to reconsider their decision and continue the occupation of our country, the Islamic Emirate… will take a stand against them,” it added. (ANI)

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Afghan leaders warned against blaming Pakistan during US visit

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and chairman of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah are set to visit the Biden this week….reports Asian Lite News

As Pakistan is expected to be the main point of discussion during Afghan leaders’ visit at the White House this week, Pakistan has reached out to the Afghan government conveying it in clear terms that the upcoming visit must not be used to blame Islamabad, officials told The Express Tribune.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and chairman of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah are set to visit the United States this week to meet US President Joe Biden.

Pakistan’s ambassador to Kabul met Afghan leaders from across party lines and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi also interacted with Dr Abdullah as well as his Afghan counterpart Hanif Atmar at the sidelines of the recent Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Turkey.

Officials have said that Pakistan fears that ‘spoilers’ within the Afghan setup may use the upcoming visit of President Ghani and Dr Abdullah to blame Islamabad for the failure of peace talks in the conflict-torn country.

At the recent Afghan Track-11 dialogue, Qureshi stressed that Ghani might use the upcoming visit to the White House to blame Pakistan. “If the objective [President Ghani’s visit] is to start a new blame game and hold Pakistan responsible for all the ills, I think it will not help. It’s a shared responsibility and no one is going to buy this anymore. We will not take any responsibility. We have been accused enough,” he said.

On Sunday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said: “President Biden looks forward to welcoming Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, to the White House on June 25, 2021.”

The Taliban, meanwhile, reacted to the visit and termed it “useless”.

“They [Ghani and Abdullah] will talk with the US officials for preservation of their power and personal interest. It won’t benefit Afghanistan,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.

Afghan National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib and vice president Amrullah Saleh in particular in recent weeks issued scathing statements against Pakistan, according to The Express Tribune.

Mohib accused Islamabad of enabling a violent ‘proxy war’ by the terror group in Afghanistan. Pakistan, furious over the Afghan NSA’s diatribe, has decided to sever all official links with him.

Islamabad has been accused of aiding the Taliban and using them as proxies for its own benefit.

As the Taliban resumes attacks on Afghan security forces and civilians, Pakistan recently extended support to the terrorist group, saying it would be an “exaggeration” to hold them responsible for violence in Afghanistan.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi defended the Taliban for increase in violence in Afghanistan and shifted the blame on Daesh, another word for ISIS (another word for Islamic State in Iraq and Syria).

Meanwhile, the Afghan diaspora in the Netherlands blamed Pakistan ‘Strategic Depth Policy’ for the unbearable suffering of Afghans along both sides of the Durand Line.

“The Pakistani military chiefs have officially admitted supporting groups such as Taliban. They call this interference strategic depth. This policy still continues and has been causing unbearable suffering among Afghans on both sides of the Durand line,” said the statement of the Afghan diaspora, reported Pajhwok Afghan News. (ANI)

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Ghani meets US peace delegation in Kabul

Two sides during the meeting on Sunday discussed several issues including expanding cooperation, and maintaining bilateral political ties,According to Ghani’s office…reports Asian Lite News

Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani met a visiting US inter-ministerial delegation led by Zalmay Khalilzad, Washington’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, in Kabul.

According to Ghani’s Office, the two sides during the meeting on Sunday discussed several issues including expanding cooperation, and maintaining bilateral political, security, defense and economic relations.

Concerning the continuation of $3.3 billion in annual assistance for the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF), the US delegation conveyed the White House message of supporting the ANDSF as well as supporting Afghanistan in the economic areas

Zalmay Khalilzad. (Photo: Twitter/@US4AfghanPeace)

Besides Ghani, Khalilzad on Sunday also met the head of High Council for National Reconciliation (HCNR), Abdullah Abdullah, during which they discussing issues related to the Taliban and Afghanistan’s national reconciliation efforts.

Before Khalilzad had embarked on his trip to Kabul, the US State Department said that the “delegation will underscore enduring US support for Afghanistan’s development and a political settlement that will end the war”.

The visit comes over a month after US President Joe Biden announced in April to withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan by September 11.

The announcement was followed by concerns about the political future of Afghanistan, TOLO News reported.

Pentagon officials have said that one-quarter of the withdrawal has been completed.

The US forces have handed some bases to Afghan forces, including the New Kabul Compound, known as NKC, in Kabul.

Violence has however, remained high in Afghanistan, while the peace negotiations in Doha have had no progress following Biden’s announcement.

119 killed in 2 days

Amid a surge in violence following US troops withdrawal from Afghanistan, a security official said that 119 people, including 102 security force members were killed in clashes and security incidents in just two days–June 3 and 4.

Details provided by a security official who wished not to be named indicated that 196 security force members were wounded in just two days, reported Tolo News.

The source said that Taliban casualties are similar to those of Afghan forces in the same time period, but the Defense Ministry reported that 183 Taliban were killed in Afghan defensive operations in eight provinces on June 3 and 181 Taliban were killed in Afghan forces operations in six provinces on June 4.

Analysts said that this shows the gravity of the intensifying conflict. The Defense Ministry reports clashes in at least 10 provinces daily on average.

a piece of broken glass of a vehicle at the site of a bomb attack in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Photo by Rahmatullah Alizadah/Xinhua)

“There are clashes in 24 to 27 provinces every day. Security forces casualties have increased, but it is not as much as the Taliban,” said Khan Agha Rezaee, the head of the internal security commission of the Wolesi Jirga, the lower house of Parliament.

The clashes have intensified on multiple fronts as heavy fighting was reported in Faryab in the last 24 hours in which at least a dozen security force members were killed, a member of the provincial council said.

“The figures provided by Afghan forces on Taliban casualties and by the Taliban on Afghan forces casualties are not accurate,” said Ilyas Wahdat, former Paktika governor.

Meanwhile, the Taliban rejected these figures. Casualties of security forces and Taliban are usually not stated in public with exact figures, and in most cases, they are not confirmed by independent sources, reported Tolo News. (ANI)

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Ready to fight Taliban after US withdrawal: Ghani

The United States’ military withdrawal from Afghanistan is up to 20 percent complete, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Monday…reports Asian Lite News

The Afghan government is ready to fight against the Taliban after the full withdrawal of foreign troops from the country, said President Ashraf Ghani as the US announced the completion of up to 20 per cent troops from the war-torn country.

“The threat of terrorism has changed. It has not disappeared. We are all agreed on this,” Ghani said in an interview with American public broadcasting service PBS on May 17.

“The US is committed to support things, providing support. This is financial, in the security area, in the economic area, in the humanitarian area, because the US, fortunately, shares the values of supporting the gains of the last 20 years. And our discussion is enormously productive.”

The United States’ military withdrawal from Afghanistan is up to 20 percent complete, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Monday.

“US Central Command estimates that we have completed between 13-20 per cent of the entire retrograde process. We expect to be able to provide weekly updates on the progress of the retrograde,” the combatant command responsible for the Middle East and parts of Central Asia said in a statement.

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Taliban terrorists have intensified activities since the formal start of the US-led forces pull out from Afghanistan on May 1. The US aims to complete the withdrawal by September 11.

Taliban

Ghani has recently held talks with influential political leaders, including the reconciliation council chief Abdullah Abdullah and former president Hamid Karzai, to build a consensus around peace and form a high-level state council.

The US entered Afghanistan ostensibly to eliminate and destroy the Al-Qaeda terror group under its “war on terror” military campaign. However, the effort morphed into an extended attempt to establish democracy on Afghan soil, Sputnik reported.

During the intervening years, the Taliban regrouped and gained control of large parts of the nation in what has become America’s longest war that lasted over two decades and led to cost up to USD 1 trillion. (ANI)

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Ghani warns Taliban over refusal to negotiations

Ashraf Ghani

Ghani mentioned that the parties would have to discuss and decide on a transitional administration, which would have a short tenure…reports Asian Lite News

Stressing that every international stakeholder and Afghan people demands a “sovereign, Islamic, democratic, united, neutral” and unified Afghanistan, President Ashraf Ghani warned that “if the Taliban refuse to negotiate, they will be choosing the peace of the grave”.

Citing an article shared by Foreign Policy, Khaama Press News Agency reported Ghani saying that an Islamic system demanded by the Taliban already exists in Afghanistan and that they should demonstrate their desired end state with “clarity and detail”.

He further said that peace negotiations require a credible and neutral mediator, which the Doha talks lack and the best option for this role would be United Nations.

“The first topics of negotiation must be reaching the desired end state and putting in place a comprehensive cease-fire to bring peace and respite to the daily lives of the Afghan people and to restore credibility and faith in the peacemaking process. Because cease-fires established during peace negotiations often fall apart, however, it is critical that we have international monitoring,” he said.

Ghani mentioned that the parties would have to discuss and decide on a transitional administration, which would have a short tenure. He announced that in such an election, he would not run for office and expressed willingness to resign if his successor had a mandate for peace.

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Intra-Afghan Talks would face difficult challenges on whether and how the Taliban would sever ties with Pakistan, the Khaama Press reported.

“It is crucial that the Afghan government and the Taliban also agree on an approach against the Islamic State (or ISIS), al Qaeda, and other terrorist groups and that our agreement include a framework for counterterrorism that secures guarantees of support from other countries in the region and from international organizations”, Ghani said in his article in Foreign Policy.

U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad during the talks in Doha

According to the Afghan President, a disrupted and disorderly” transition of power could menace command and control of security sectors in the country. He also noted that “uncertainty” may persuade Afghans to migrate, which could lead to another refugee crisis.

He further predicted that the Taliban will show no further ensuing interest in making a political deal and “will instead opt for continued military aggression”, Khaama Press reported.

Also read:US forces hand over key base in Afghanistan

Speaking on Pakistan, he said that the neighbouring country had miscalculated to threaten the Afghan peace process.

He remarked that Islamabad would be looking for an enmity with Afghanistan and would be deprived of enormous economical benefits that peace and regional connectivity offers if they choose to continue facilitating Taliban and other terrorist organisations.

“Pakistan would become an international pariah, as it would be left with no leverage in the aftermath of the U.S. troop withdrawal. The Pakistani government miscalculated in its response to the United States’ plan of action for Afghanistan and the region, but it is not too late for Islamabad to emerge as a partner and stakeholder in an orderly peace process,” he said in his article.

“The withdrawal of U.S. troops is an opportunity to get us closer to that end state, but only if all Afghans and their international partners commit to a clear path forward and stay the course,” Ghani concluded his remarks.

This statement comes as Washington formally started their drawdown from the war-torn country on May 1.

Biden announced earlier this month the decision to withdraw troops from the country starting on that May 1 deadline, with the aim of completely withdrawing from Afghanistan by September 11, which would mark the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that sparked the war in Afghanistan, the longest conflict in American history.

Earlier this year, Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry said that despite the Taliban’s claim that it seeks to maintain peace in the country, the terror outfit still maintains close ties to the terrorist outfit Pakistani Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. (ANI)

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NATO pledge commitment to support Afghan peace

Ashraf-Ghani

The alliance declared that member states were scheduled to begin an orderly withdrawal from Afghanistan by May 1…reports Asian Lite News

The NATO alliance on Friday reiterated its pledge to support Afghanistan and the political resolution of hostilities in the country, Stefano Pontecorvo, NATO Senior Civilian Representative to Afghanistan, said on Friday.

On Thursday, the official met with Abdullah Abdullah, the head of the Afghan High Council for National Reconciliation. According to Pontecorvo, they held fruitful discussions “on the new chapter in the relationship between Afghanistan and NATO.”

“We agreed on the importance of a political settlement and on the need for a united Republic front to act in the interest of peace and for the benefit of all Afghans,” the official was quoted as saying by the regional alliance office in a tweet.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani,

Last week, the alliance declared that member states were scheduled to begin an orderly withdrawal from Afghanistan by May 1, planning to complete it within a few months. The US intends to complete the pullout by September 11.

Also read:‘Afghanistan ready for NATO pack up’

In the meantime, Afghanistan is still witnessing clashes between Taliban insurgents and the Afghan military despite the launch of peace talks between the movement and Kabul in Qatar’s Doha last September.

The Afghan military continues to regularly report on its special operations against the movement.

Stay out, Ghani tells Pakistan

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Thursday urged Pakistan to stay out of his country and rein in the Taliban to ensure an orderly departure of NATO forces next month.

Speaking during a visit to the restive southern province of Kandahar, Ghani said that Afghanistan wanted to see NATO forces out with dignity.

He said that Pakistan, which Afghanistan and the United States blame for giving a safe haven to the radical insurgency, should use its leverage to force the Taliban back into peace talks.

NATO announced last week that member states will start an orderly withdrawal from Afghanistan by May 1, planning to complete it within a few months. The US intends to complete the pullout by September 11. (ANI/Sputnik)

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