TOKYO (Sputnik) - A G7 foreign ministers' meeting is planned for next week with Russia’s and China’s participation and will focus on Afghanistan, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on NHK television on Sunday.
"Next week, a meeting at the level of the foreign ministers of the G7 countries is expected, to discuss the situation in Afghanistan; the presence of the ministers from Russia, China and other countries is also expected," Toshimitsu Motegi said, adding that "this could happen already on September 8."
NEW DELHI (Sputnik) - Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan discussed on Saturday the situation in Afghanistan in a phone conversation with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, paying special attention to the humanitarian situation in the Central Asian country, the prime minister's office said.
"Prime Minister @ImranKhanPTI spoke on the telephone with the Secretary General of the United Nations (@UN), Mr. @AntonioGuterres, today," the office tweeted, adding that "the two leaders discussed the developments in #Afghanistan, with a particular focus on the humanitarian situation."
The Pakistani prime minister stressed the importance of peace, stability and inclusive political settlement in the country as well as the need for the international community to play a more active role in Afghanistan, especially when it comes to "addressing the humanitarian needs and ensuring economic stability."
"The PM appreciated the vital role of the United Nations in delivering much needed humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people. The PM highlighted the facilitation being provided by Pakistan to the UN in that regard including by assisting in the evacuation and relocation efforts," the office added.
Roughly 600 militants from the Taliban (terrorist movement, outlawed in Russia) were eliminated in Afghanistan's northeastern province of Panjshir on Saturday, the Afghan resistance forces said.
"About 600 Taliban terrorists have been liquidated in various districts of Panjshir since morning. More than 1,000 Taliban militants have been captured or surrendered themselves," the resistance forces' spokesman Fahim Dashti tweeted.
The spokesman added that the Taliban had problems with getting supplies from other Afghan provinces.
Panjshir is the stronghold of the National Resistance Front, led by Ahmad Massoud, the son of late ex-Afghan guerrilla commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, and ex-Vice President Amrullah Saleh, who declared himself caretaker president.
The offensive of the Taliban (terrorist group, banned in Russia) against the capital of Afghanistan's northeastern province of Panjshir has been slowed down by land mines, Al Jazeera reported on Saturday, citing a source in the radical movement.
Landmines are said to be placed on the road to the capital city of Bazarak as well as the provincial governor's residence.
According to the broadcaster's source, the offensive and demining are being conducted at the same time.
Panjshir is the stronghold of the National Resistance Front, led by Ahmad Massoud, the son of late ex-Afghan guerrilla commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, and ex-Vice President Amrullah Saleh, who declared himself caretaker president. Massoud pledged to step down in case the group forms an inclusive government and guarantees equal rights for all Afghans.
The eastern military commission of the Taliban (terrorist group, outlawed in Russia) has barred former Afghan soldiers, police officers, and members of Daesh* from joining the movement, the governor's office in the eastern Nangarhar province announced on Saturday.
Those who refuse to wear beards will not be allowed to join either. Taliban militants are also not allowed to wear dark glasses and cover their faces, according to the office's statement.
The Taliban seized Kabul on August 15, completing a weeks-long nationwide offensive and ousting the US-backed government. The radical movement then declared the end of the 20-year-war in the Central Asian country and promised that Afghanistan's form of government would be determined in the near future.
Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Saturday that Rome might reopen its mission to Afghanistan in the Qatari capital of Doha.
On Friday, Mohammad Naeem, the spokesman for the political office of the Taliban (terrorist group, outlawed in Russia), tweeted that Italy had promised to reopen its embassy in the Central Asian country. Later, the tweet was deleted. Earlier on Saturday, media reported, citing sources at the Italian prime minister's office, that the information about the country's diplomatic mission returning to Kabul is groundless.
"We and our partners are currently discussing where to locate our embassies. There are no security conditions to open them in Kabul, which is why we are becoming more and more settled on the idea to temporarily set them up in Doha," Di Maio said during a visit to Uzbekistan, as quoted by Italian news agency Agenzia Nova.
Afghanistan has entered a period of political and social turmoil in the wake of the Taliban capturing Kabul on August 15. Despite assurances from the Taliban that foreign emissaries will not be harmed, many countries have been evacuation their citizens and diplomatic personnel, as well as Afghans who cooperated with them.
After being evacuated from Kabul, the Italian embassy to Afghanistan continues its work in Rome.
Repairs are underway in Kabul's airport, it will be ready to receive several commercial flights in the next few days, Qatari Ambassador to Afghanistan Saeed bin Mubarak Al Khayarin said on Saturday.
"A group of specialists have prepared the airport for the flights with humanitarian assistance and will prepare [it] for receiving civilian flights in the near future," the diplomat said, as quoted by Al-Jazeera.
The airport is already operating flights from Kabul to the cities of Mazar-i-Sharif and Kandahar, he added.
The League of Arab States (LAS) is not going to mediate negotiations between the Taliban and other forces in Afghanistan, as it has neither political interests nor legal opportunities for this, Hossam Zaki, the organization's assistant secretary-general, said in an interview.
"LAS does not see any opportunities for the organization to play any role in Afghanistan. This is not part of its political interests at all, nor legal interests nor opportunities," Zaki said.
The official added that one of the LAS members, Qatar, however, had good relations with the movement and had played a significant role in the intra-Afghan dialogue in recent years.
Qatar's Doha hosts the movement's political office.
Moscow hopes that the Taliban will fulfil the promises they made when they came to power in Afghanistan and there will be a more predictable regime in the country, Yevgeny Primakov, the head of the Russian Agency for International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo), said in an interview.
"I hope that the situation will be changing, and the Taliban will fulfil heir numerous promises they made when they came to power, and we will get a more predictable regime there," Primakov said on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok.
The movement has pledged to form a government that will include representatives of different groups, as well as to guarantee free media and opportunities for women to work and study.
The death toll from incidents of shooting in the air by the Taliban in Kabul has increased to 17, while 41 others were injured, a hospital source said on Saturday.
Previous reports indicated that four people were killed and seven others were injured as a result of the incidents. The Islamist movement claimed they were shooting to celebrate the capture of defiant Panjshir province — something denied by the resistance forces. The group's leadership, however, called on the militants to stop firing in light of growing concerns among Afghans.
Four people were killed and seven others were injured in Afghanistan as a result of several incidents of shooting in the air by the Taliban, a medical source said on Saturday.
"Four people were killed and seven injured as a result of the shooting in the air late last night," the source said.
Eyewitnesses said on Friday that the shooting occurred in several provinces. Residents of the Afghan capital feared that it was another outbreak of fighting, but the Islamist movement claimed they were shooting to celebrate the capture of defiant Panjshir province — something denied by the resistance forces. The group's leadership, however, called on the militants to stop firing in light of growing concerns among Afghans.
