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A growing cohort of women across Afghanistan are producing masks for their communities, covering a shortage of this simple yet lifesaving piece of equipment. Shukria, a 24-yearold from the town of Nakarabad, produces about 100 masks a day. She learned about the implications of COVID-19 through a country-wide information campaign, run by the Citizens Charter Afghanistan Project, with financing from IDA and the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund.

The campaign empowered us to take the dangers of the coronavirus seriously, Shukria recalls.

The Citizens Charter and the Womens Economic Empowerment Rural Development Project (WEE-RDP) are at the forefront of running public awareness campaigns in rural areas. So far, the Citizens Charter has held meetings for council members and mullahs in some 12,000 communities in 124 districts across Afghanistan. Thousands of rural Afghans are now aware of the COVID-19 pandemic and how to protect themselves and their families.

In addition to raising awareness about COVID-19, IDA is also helping to provide a critical lifeline to households whose livelihoods have been upended by the pandemic. Preventive measures put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19, such as lockdowns and border closures, have increased the number of Afghan households facing food insecurity and hunger. Most people in our village are already poor and they supported their families with daily jobs, says Bakhtiar, a 25-year-old daily-wage worker from Mandozai village, which has been hard hit by COVID-19. In my case, our entire family contracted COVID-19, so we couldnt work and now we face economic difficulties.

Through the Dastarkhwan-e Meli social safety net program the Afghan government is helping villagers like Bakhtiar. Distribution drives are underway, providing relief packages to households facing food insecurity and hunger due to COVID-19. The relief packageswhich provide 2-3 weeks of rations for a familyare locally sourced, creating jobs and stimulating local economies. The program is supported by the Citizens Charter Afghanistan Project and the COVID-19 Relief Effort for Afghan Communities and Households.

The Dastarkhwan-e Meli relief distribution drives will ultimately reach more than 5 million households in the countrys most vulnerable communities.

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Helping Afghanistan Fight the COVID-19 Pandemic - World Bank Group

WASHINGTON, June 24, 2021 TheWorld Banks Board of Executive Directors today approved a $191 million credit to Bangladesh and a $18 million grant to Afghanistan to help the countries strengthen the higher education sector and respond better to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Higher Education Acceleration Transformation Project the first World Bank-supported regional education project in South Asiawill support regional collaboration in the higher education sector, including student mobility through equivalence programs, credit transfer schemes, and university twinning arrangements within the region. It will also help more women access quality higher education, which will result in increased female labor force participation.

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit hard the higher education sector in South Asia, causing more dropouts and fewer enrolments. Female students are likely to be disproportionately impacted, further exacerbating the existing gender gap in higher education. The project will support pandemic and emergency response and build systemic resilience in the higher education sector with a specific focus on digitization.

For our collective future, higher education is a necessity, not a choice. As Bangladesh aspires to achieve an upper middle-income status, the country needs to invest in its youth to create a skilled and globally competitive workforce, said Mercy Tembon, World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan. This financing will help Bangladesh strengthen quality and relevance of tertiary education as well as ensure business continuity during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It will establish a South Asian Higher Education Portal, hosted in Bangladesh, to facilitate the virtual mobility' of students, by allowing students from the registered universities to take courses for credit outside their home country. In addition to Bangladesh and Afghanistan, students from other South Asian countries will be able to access the portal. It will also strengthen regional cooperation among the National Research and Education networks (NRENs) and provide expanded access and connectivity for students. The project will upgrade the Bangladesh Research and Education Network (BdREN) and will offer a subsidized connectivity package to students and the participating universities in BdREN.

South Asia region has the second-lowest female labor force participation rate globally. To enable more women to access quality higher education, get better jobs, and become leaders, the project will build a network of womens universities and institutions, which will be initially anchored on the Asian University of Women in Chittagong, Bangladesh.

In Afghanistan, the higher education sector is growing rapidly. However, only 30 percent of the students at the tertiary level are women. The regional project will prepare the students, particularly the female students for working in leadership and decision-making positions, said Henry Kerali, World Bank Country Director for Afghanistan.

The project will help meet the increasing demand for quality higher education in South Asia. Further, it will also help South Asian countries benefit from regional cooperation in higher education and strengthen research and innovations capacities in the universities, said Mokhlesur Rahman, World Bank Task Team Leader of the project.

The credit is from the World Banks International Development Association (IDA), and has a 30-year term, including a five-year grace period. Bangladesh currently has the largest ongoing IDA program totaling over $14 billion.

Contacts

Washington

Diana Chung(202) 473-8357dchung1@worldbank.org

Dhaka

Mehrin Mahbub(880-2) 5566-7777mmahbub@worldbank.org

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World Bank Helps Improve Higher Education in Afghanistan and Bangladesh - Afghanistan - ReliefWeb

ISLAMABAD: The security team of the establishment will brief the Parliamentary Committee on National Security on developments with regard to Afghanistan and matters of national security on Thursday (July 1) at the Parliament House.

*Highly placed sources told The News here on Sunday that Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javaid Bajwa, DG ISI Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed and other high officials will attend the session.*

Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Mian Shahbaz Sharif, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Senator Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, JUI-F Parliamentary leader Maulana Asad Mahmood, BNP leader Sardar Muhammad Akhtar Mengal and ANP leader Ameer Haider Azam Khan Hoti, are among the members invited for the meeting. The slated meeting which has conspicuous significance in the backdrop of the situation prevailing in the war-torn country from where foreign occupying troops are vacating the country in a couple of weeks and the Taliban are increasingly capturing the vacated areas that will have an impact on Pakistan.

Afghan President Dr. Ashraf Ghani and Dr. Abdullah Abdullah have dashed to Washington for discussion with the US authorities pertaining to the upcoming situation and seeking their support for their administration, are also extremely perturbed about the affairs in their country.

The Thursday briefing will be in closed doors and 29-member committee will get an opportunity to avail a question-answer session, the sources said. It would be first meeting of the committee in about eight months as the last meeting in November last was boycotted by the opposition.

The sources said that the opposition leaders will mull over tomorrow (Tuesday) whether to attend the briefing or not. It is unlikely that Prime Minister Imran Khan would turn up for the meeting since he isn't a member of the committee constituted by the NA Speaker. Other members of the committee are Ms. Sherry Rehman (PPP), Mushtaq Ahmad (JI), Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah (GDA), Syed Faisal Ali Sabazwari (MQM), Senator Hidayat ullah (Ind), Sardar Muhammad Shafiq Tarin (PkMAP), Muhammad Tahir Bizenjo (NP), Muhammad Qasim (BNP), Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidri (JUI), Kamil Ali Agha (PML-Q), Dr. Shehzad Wasim (PTI), Dilawar Khan (Ind), Azam Nazir Tarrar (PML-N) and Anwar ul Haq Kakar (Ind) members from Senate while the other members from the NA are Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi (PTI), Chaudhary Tariq Bashir Cheema (PML-Q), Ghaus Bux Mehar (GDA), Dr. Khalid Maqbool Siddiquee (MQM), Nawabzada Shahzain Bugti (JWP), Khalid Hussain Magsi (BAP), Sheikh Rashid Ahmad (AML). Speaker Asad Qaisar is chairman of the committee. PTM MNA Mohsin Dawar is among special invitees. The sources pointed out that the parliamentary committee will also discuss some other subjects of national interest if it takes place according to the schedule

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Parliamentary body to be briefed on Afghanistan, national security - The News International

Afghanistan experienced a weekend of carnage as scores died in a series of Taliban attacks across the country, according to local officials. There was also one incident of alleged friendly fire reported on an air base in the north.

Qaysardistrict in northern Faryab province is on the verge of falling to the Taliban Sunday, news agencies reported.

Heavy clasheswere reportedin the center of the district and the village of Kohi, the last remaining areas still controlled by the government.

Three officials told dpa the Taliban were able to capture both the police headquarters and the municipality building one kilometer (0.6 miles) from the center of the district.

The violence was initiated bya car bomb thatdetonated outsidedistrict police headquarters the day before.

Qaysar district governor Abdul Baqi Hashimi reported at least ten members of the Afghan security forces died in the blast. A different local official placed the number of dead closer to 30.

At least 20 additional security forces personnel were captured in the attack, which was followed by heavy clashes.An additional 18 were wounded.

The surge in violence comes as the US military continues to withdraw its remaining 2,500 troops from Afghanistan

Saidullah Nuristani, the provincial counselor or Nuristan to the east of the capital Kabul, reported government forces had abandoned the Doab district to the TalibanSaturdayfollowing 20 days of resistance.

The Taliban blocked the supply routes into Doab,forcingthe government to evacuate in a deal mediated by tribal elders.

Ismail Ateekan, a member of parliament representing the province, told dpa that without food and ammunition, the Afghan security forces had no choice but to flee. Theywere not met with resistance when they did.

Doab was the third district to fall to the Taliban since Thursday night. Two districts in southern Zabul and Uruzgan provinces fell late on Friday.

Also on Saturday, 11 civilians including three children were killed when the vehicle they were traveling in struck a landmine in the northern province of Bagdis.

The governor of the province, Husamudim Shams, blamed the Taliban for the attack on the vehicle as it was en route to the city of Qala-e-Naw. The Taliban did not immediately claim responsibility for the incident.

The attack occurred hours ahead of a scheduled meeting between senior Taliban leaders and UN officials in Qatar to discuss the so-called peace process and security for diplomats and aid workers.

Friday night, the Taliban killed at least six policemen including two police commanders in the northern Baghlan province, according to provincial police spokesman Ahmad Javid Basharat. Several others were wounded in the offensive launched on Julga district at midnight, a provincial counsilor, Firuzuddin Aimaq, said.

Also in the north Friday,13 pro-government fighters, including a key commander, were killed by the Afghan air force as they returned to a base in the Kohistan districtof Badakhshan provincefollowing an operation against the Taliban. Several others were wounded.

A member of parliament, Zabihullah Atiq, said the incident thatkilled Commander Ashur was a mistake. Atiq said one victim later succumbed to his wounds while another victim of the airstrike remains in critical condition.

The Taliban has intensified its attacks on provincial capitals, districts, bases and checkpoints across Afghanistan.Rahmatullah Andar, a spokesman for the national security council in Afghanistan, told dpa the Taliban have carried out 1,455 attacks sinceinternational forces began to withdraw.

Rohullah Ahmadzai, aspokesman for the Afghan Defense Ministry, sought to downplay the Taliban's conquests. Hesaid military plans are being made to neutralize the Taliban.

A handover ceremony to Afghan Defense Forces at Mike Spann Camp in Mazar-i-Sharif on May 5

Since the US and NATO officially withdrew from Afghanistan on May 1, seven districts have fallen to the Taliban.

International forces are set to completely withdraw from Afghanistan by September 11.

In April, the UN said almost 1,800 Afghan civilians were either killed or wounded in the fighting between government forces and the Taliban between January and March of 2021.

Tens of thousands of Afghans have been displaced by the fighting in recent weeks.

The "Islamic State" (IS) armed group is also active in Afghanistan.

ar/mm (dpa, Reuters)

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Afghanistan: Several killed in attacks blamed on Taliban - DW (English)

With the U.S. troop withdrawal well under way, the United States on Friday announced more than $266 million in new humanitarian aid for Afghanistan as part of what it called an enduring U.S. commitment to the war-torn country.

The announcement comes amid unrelenting violence and a stalled peace process that are fueling fears that the departure of U.S.-led international forces is putting Afghanistan on a path to all-out civil war that could restore Taliban rule two decades after the Islamists were driven from power.

Officials of the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, who ordered an end to the 20-year U.S. troop presence by Sept. 11, have vowed to continue U.S. military and civilian aid to Kabul. But they warned it could be suspended if there is backtracking on progress made in human rights, especially those of women and girls.

As the United States withdraws military forces from Afghanistan, our enduring commitment is clear. We remain engaged through our full diplomatic, economic, and assistance toolkit to support the peaceful, stable future the Afghan people want and deserve, the State Department said in a statement.

The $266 million in new assistance brings to nearly $3.9 billion the total amount of such aid provided by the United States since 2002, the statement said.

The funds will help support some of the estimated 18 million Afghans in need, including more than 4.8 million who are internally displaced, 115,000 of whom have been driven from their homes by fighting this year alone, it said.

The funds, it continued, will go to providing shelter, job opportunities, basic healthcare, emergency food, water, sanitation, and hygienic services in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It also will support protection programs for the most vulnerable Afghans, including women and girls facing particular risks, including gender-based violence, it said.

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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U.S. announces more than $266 million in new Afghanistan aid - Reuters