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NEW YORK, 24 October 2020 This has been a deadly weekend for schoolchildren in Afghanistan and Cameroon.

Earlier today, an attack outside an educational center in Kabuls Dasht-e-Barchi area left 16 people dead and 45 people injured, many of them women and children.

Thousands of miles away, an attack on a confessional bilingual college in Kumba, in south-west Cameroon, killed 8 children and injured another 12.

I am shocked and outraged at these abominable attacks and condemn them in the strongest possible terms.

Attacks on education are a grave violation of childrens rights. Schools must be places of safety and learning, not death traps.

Our thoughts are with the families and friends of the victims.

Parties to the conflicts in Afghanistan and Cameroon must abide by the rules of war and protect children at all times. The perpetrators of these acts must be held accountable.

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Statement by UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore on school attacks in Afghanistan and Cameroon - UNICEF

Despite ongoing peace talks, civilians continue to pay the price for the conflict in Afghanistan, said Amnesty International, following a spate of bloody attacks that have killed at least 50 people in the past week alone.

On Thursday 22 October, four people were killed and around 10 injured in the Shareen Tagab district of Faryab Province, after Taliban forces fired a rocket into a market. Later the same day, 12 children died and at least 18 people were injured after an airstrike by the Afghan military hit a school in the province of Takhar.

The world must sit up and take notice. Afghan civilians are being slaughtered on a daily basis

These latest casualties join the 180 civilians killed and 375 wounded in the month preceding 20 October, according to figures from the Afghanistan Ministry of Interior (MoI) this week.

While the parties talk peace, weve seen a marked escalation in violence this month, with Afghan civilians as ever paying the heaviest price, said Omar Waraich, Head of South Asia at Amnesty International.

The world must sit up and take notice. Afghan civilians are being slaughtered on a daily basis. We urge all parties to the conflict to take all measures necessary to protect civilians and respect international humanitarian law. The international community must make the protection of civilians a core demand for their ongoing support of the peace process.

The deaths this week are the latest in a bloody month for civilians in Afghanistan. On 17 October, seven civilians were killed in Ghor province by a roadside bomb. The following day, a car bomb explosion outside a police station in Ghors capital Feroz Koh killed 16 and injured 125 others. Then, on 20 October, roadside bombs in Jalriz district and Maidan Wardak province killed 11 people and injured 4 more.

Intense fighting between Afghan government and Taliban forces over the past fortnight in the Helmand province capital Lashkar Gah is still ongoing, and, according to local media reports, has so far forced at least 40,000 people to flee their homes.

According to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), during the first half of 2020, 1,282 civilians had been killed and 2,176 were injured in the conflict.

Trampled to death

Amnesty International is also calling on the Afghan and Pakistani authorities to cooperate to urgently establish a safe and efficient procedure for Afghan nationals wishing to apply for visas to travel across the border, following a stampede in Jalalabad on 21 October that killed at least 15 Afghans trying to secure medical visas to enter Pakistan.

This is a heart-breaking loss of people who were simply trying to access medical care, which has become an even more precious commodity in the middle of a pandemic

The 15 confirmed dead, including 11 women and 4 men, were part of a crowd of more than 3,000 who had gathered after the Pakistani authorities resumed issuing visas last week, following a seven-month pause caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is a heart-breaking loss of people who were simply trying to access medical care, which has become an even more precious commodity in the middle of a pandemic, said Omar Waraich.

With thousands more seeking to cross the border to receive what could be life-saving treatment, its vital that the Afghan and Pakistani authorities work together to quickly establish an efficient and safe visa application process.

Background

On 14 October, Amnesty International issued this press release calling for trapped civilians to be allowed safe passage out of Lashkar Gah.

Excerpt from:
Afghanistan: Mounting casualties as parties to peace talks fail to protect civilians - Amnesty International

ISLAMABAD - The United States has lost $19 billion in Afghanistan since 2002 due to waste, fraud and abuse, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said in a new report released Tuesday.

SIGAR monitors all U.S. spending in the 19-year war in Afghanistan, Americas longest.

The American oversight authority noted that the U.S. Congress has appropriated nearly $134 billion for Afghan reconstruction programs since the ouster of the Taliban in late 2001.

Of that amount, SIGAR reviewed approximately $63 billion and concluded that a total of approximately $19 billion, or 30% of the amount reviewed, was lost to waste, fraud, and abuse, the report said.

SIGARs audit identified approximately $1.8 billion in waste, fraud and abuse between January 2018 and December 2019.

The oversight office is tasked with reviewing reconstruction funding and presenting recommendations for putting the money to better use for other programs or efforts in the tumultuous South Asian nation.

SIGARs latest report comes as President Donald Trumps administration presses the Afghan government and Taliban insurgents to negotiate a political settlement to permanently end the long conflict. The Afghan rivals are currently engaged in direct peace talks in Doha, Qatar.

The historic dialogue is the product of a peace-building agreement the Trump administration sealed with the Taliban in February to close the war and bring home all U.S. forces by May 2021.

The U.S. and its allies invaded Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States and toppled the Taliban government at the time for harboring the al-Qaida terror network and its chief, Osama bin Laden, who masterminded the attacks.

The war has since cost Washington the lives of more than 2,400 U.S. soldiers and nearly $1 trillion.

SIGAR has routinely criticized the Afghan governments efforts to curb rampant corruption as inadequate, saying it is a major concern among the frustrated donor community.

In a report released in early 2020, the U.S. agency said Afghan President Ashraf Ghanis administration is more interested in checking off boxes for the international community than in actually uprooting its corruption problem.

The anti-corruption efforts and reform programs will come under scrutiny next month when Afghan officials and international donors meet in Geneva to consider future aid commitments to Afghanistan.

See more here:
US Reportedly Lost $19 Billion To Fraud, Abuse in Afghanistan - Voice of America

WASHINGTON President Trumps national security adviser, Robert C. OBrien, added to the confusion around Mr. Trumps plans for Afghanistan on Friday, reiterating an assertion that the United States will draw down to about 2,500 troops by early next year and indirectly rebuking the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman for openly questioning that timeline.

Speaking from the White House during an online session hosted by the Aspen Strategy Group, Mr. OBrien repeated a statement he made during a public talk last Wednesday, saying that Mr. Trump had directed that the United States, which now has about 4,500 troops in the country, would be down to 2500 troops in the early part of next year.

It has been suggested by some that thats speculation. I can guarantee you, thats the plan of the president the United States, Mr. OBrien said. That was a clear reference to comments by the chairman, Gen. Mark A. Milley, in an interview on Sunday with NPR, that Mr. OBriens previous troop-level projection amounted to speculation and not the rigorous analysis of conditions on the ground that the general would apply.

On Friday, Mr. OBrien insisted that he was reflecting Mr. Trumps true intentions.

Its not speculation, he repeated. Thats the order of the commander in chief, he said, adding that the Defense Department and its secretary, Mark T. Esper, are fully on board and implementing them.

The United States struck an agreement with the Taliban in February that committed to a full troop withdrawal by next May, but tied to conditions that the Afghan insurgent group has yet to meet.

Mr. OBrien also sought to explain away a tweet by Mr. Trump, posted hours after his remarks last week, in which the president appeared to offer a wholly different, and much faster, timeline for an American exit. We should have the small remaining number of our BRAVE Men and Women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas! Mr. Trump wrote.

I think what the president was doing is, he was expressing the same desire I think every president since the Revolutionary War has said, whenever were at war, whether it was the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World War I, or World War II all presidents, all G.I.s want the troops home by Christmas, he said.

Thered be nothing greater than having our troops home by Christmas, he continued, adding that the United States was on a path right now that looks like about 4,500.

Mr. OBrien also sought to downplay concern that Mr. Trump would seek to exit the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in a second term, a day after Mr. Trump, speaking on a podcast hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, would not commit to remaining in the alliance if re-elected.

Asked about claims by Mr. Trumps previous national security adviser, John R. Bolton, that the president has threatened to exit the alliance entirely, Mr. OBrien said, Ive never heard him talk about getting out of NATO.

See the rest here:
Trump Aide Insists U.S. Will Reduce Forces in Afghanistan to 2,500 Troops - The New York Times

A Memorandum of Understanding between Greece and Afghanistan was signed yesterday by Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis and Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Meerwais Nab.

The signing ceremony of the Memorandum in Greeces capital was followed by a bilateral meeting, during which the close historical and cultural ties connecting the two countries were confirmed, given the rich Greek cultural heritage in Afghanistan dating back to the time of Alexander the Great over 2,000 years ago.

Varvitsiotis stressed the importance of promoting a positive agenda of cooperation between the two countries, which, however, presupposes addressing issues of mutual distrust, such as illegal immigration.

He raised, in particular, the issue of facilitating voluntary returns for Afghan citizens, who are not entitled to international protection, and welcomed Nabs positive reception of the Greek proposal to conclude a relevant bilateral Memorandum of Cooperation.

He stressed that the issue of returns is a key part of the new Immigration and Asylum Pact presented by the European Commission.

For his part, Nab expressed the desire to cooperate with Greece on the issue of voluntary returns through the Afghan Embassy in Athens, as well as the hope for a Greek Embassy in Kabul, noting that the Afghanistan side can assist about.

After the end of the meeting, Varvitsiotis made the following statement:

Today I had the opportunity to meet and sign a political agreement with the Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister. Mr Nab and I had the opportunity to discuss issues of concern to both countries, and in particular the complex issue of immigration, he said, adding that Greece has always been committed to supporting internal security and, of course, peace in the region of Afghanistan.

That is why it has been participating in the international effort to address the Taliban threat for many years. In this context, Greece has welcomed and is hosting over 40,000 Afghans in our country, the Deputy Foreign Minister continued.

Many of them have refugee status, some of them do not have refugee status and are considered illegal immigrants. That is why we have already started discussions on the immigration agreement with Afghanistan, to send a message to the people, who risk their lives crossing the border illegally to reach our country, that, even if they get here, eventually their path will not be successful, he concluded.

Varvitsiotis also said on Twitter that Greece and Afghanistan are deepening political relations.

?? ??? ?????? ????????? ?????????? Meerwais Nab ?????????? ?????? ???????? ?????????? ????????? ?????????????. ??????? ??? ????? ????????? ???? ??? ??? ???????? ??? ???????? ??????????? ??? ??? ?????? ????????????? ??? ??? ????????? ??? ????????? ??? ???????. ????? pic.twitter.com/4hVvjQlRa3

— Varvitsiotis Miltiadis (@MVarvitsiotis) October 21, 2020

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Greece And Afghanistan Sign Memorandum On Returning Illegal Immigrants - GreekCityTimes.com