Help for Afghanistan: Pakistan NSA to visit Kabul today

Islamabad: Pakistan’s National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf will lead an inter-ministerial delegation to Afghanistan on Tuesday to discuss the issue of borderfencing and take stock of the humanitarian needs of the war-torn country with the Taliban regime, according to a media report. During his visit from January 18 to 19, Yusuf will discuss ways to channel humanitarian aid to Afghanistan in line with the requirements of the UN other and international sanctions, officials told the Dawn newspaper. Concerns over Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis have been discussed in the United Nations to avert a humanitarian crisis.

On January 13, UN Secretary- General Antonio Guterres warned that millions of Afghans were on the “verge of death,” urging the international community to fund the UN’s USD 5 billion humanitarian appeal, release the country’s frozen assets and reignite its banking system to avert a major economic and social collapse. One of the key challenges confronting Afghanistan is the near-complete exodus of skilled labour, affecting its health and infrastructure sectors. Pakistani officials said they were planning to relocate Afghan refugees who have been educated and trained in Pakistan to Afghanistan.

Officials said the issue of borderfencing along the Durand Line will also be discussed by Yusuf amidst differences between Islamabad and Kabul. Pakistan has completed almost 90 per cent fencing work along the 2,670-km international border to stop an easy passage for militants.

However, Afghanistan has contested the century-old British-era boundary demarcation that splits families on either side.

Last month, videos began to circulate on social media, purportedly showing members of the Afghan Taliban uprooting a portion of the fence along the border, claiming that they were erected inside Afghan territory. —PTI