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On January 1, Kazakhstan concluded its two-year term on the United Nations Security Council as a non-permanent member.

We have accomplished a lot during these two years, Kazakhstans Permanent Representative to the UN in New York Kairat Umarov said while meeting with the NGO Working Group on the United Nations Security Council in December.

We are open to dialogue with you and are ready to continue close contacts and partnership on all key issues on the global and regional agenda, Umarov said according to a report by Egemen.

Kazakhstan was the first Central Asian country to be elected to a two-year term on the Security Council the high-profile and permanent UN body that investigates international disputes and situations.

Over the last two years, Kazakhstani diplomats assigned to the countrys mission to the UN in New York City focused their efforts on issues prioritized by the countrys president, Nursultan Nazarbayev. Topics covered included countering nuclear proliferation and the use of nuclear weapons and finding political solutions to the conflicts in Afghanistan and Syria. Their efforts have not gone unnoticed by high-ranking officials in Washington, such as the United States Secretary of State.

Kazakhstan has assumed a key role on the global stage as a partner in ensuring peace and stability, and in promoting economic development and connectivity in Central Asia and beyond, Mike Pompeo said in a statement issued on the occasion of Kazakhstans Independence Day, celebrated on December 16.

Within the span of Kazakhstans two-year term on the Security Council, diplomats arranged a working trip to Afghanistan, a country that does not share a border with Kazakhstan but is in close proximity to it. Thanks to their efforts, for the first time in seven years a Security Council delegation visited the landlocked Central Asian country, where the security situation remains perilous.

Kazakhstan has also acted as a mediator for parties to the Syrian conflict. Eleven rounds of meetings have been held in Astana, Kazakhstans capital city, since January 2017, which have brought together representatives from the Syrian government, armed opposition groups, and officials from the three guarantor countries of the current ceasefire agreement, namely Iran, Russia and Turkey. By late 2017, the parties to the conflict had agreed to set up de-escalation zones in Syria for six months, although subsequent talks have not yielded much progress.

Eritrea, the northeast African country sanctioned by the UN after being accused of having ties to Al-Shabaab militants in Somalia and refusing to withdraw from border disputes with its neighbor, Djibouti, also received attention during Kazakhstans tenure. As a result of multilateral diplomatic efforts at the UN, including Kazakhstan chairing the UNs Somalia and Eritrea Sanctions Committee, Eritrea and neighboring Ethiopia signed a deal to end a decades-old war and lift 9-year-old sanctions.

We worked closely with Kazakhstans office in New York, and as a result, the sanctions from Eritrea were lifted, Amanuel Giorgio, the Deputy Permanent Representative at Eritreas mission in New York, told 24Khabar. This is a significant result of Kazakhstans activities in the UN Security Council, Giorgio said.

In addition, Kazakhstan sent troops to Lebanon late last year to support the UN peacekeeping mission stationed there. The rotational deployment includes 120 servicemen who, together with 128 Indian peacekeepers, patrol a UN-drawn border between Israel and Lebanon.

Kazakhstan was elected to a two-year, non-permanent position on the UN Security Council on June 28, 2016. The UN body is comprised of five permanent members (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) and 10 non-permanent members, which are elected in groups of five every year to two-year terms. Non-permanent members do not have veto power over resolutions tabled for a vote, while the permanent five do.

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President Trump, committed to the eventual withdrawal of US troops in Aghanistan, has expressed his displeasure over having only US troops present in the war-torn country. In a televised address, Trump said, Why is not Russia there? Why isnt India there? Why isnt Pakistan there? Why are we (US) there? We are 6,000 miles away. But I dont mind. We want to help our people. We want to help other nations. The Trump administration has been pushing India to join in on the battle with Taliban in Afghanistan, although India has long maintained that no boots shall be sent to Afghanistan.

Mocking Indias development and reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, Trump remarked, I could give you an example where I get along very well with India and Prime Minister Modi. But he is constantly telling me, he built a library in Afghanistan. Library! Thats like five hours of what we spend (in Afghanistan). He went on to say, And he (Modi) tells me. He is very smart. We are supposed to say, oh thank you for the library. Dont know whos using it in Afghanistan. But its one of those things I dont like being taken advantage of.

India has retorted to these statements, India firmly believes in the critical role that developmental assistance can play in transforming human lives. India does not send its armed forces abroad except under the specific mandate of the UN Peacekeeping Operations, and also mentioned Indias development aid to Afghanistan which exceeds $3 Billion, making India the biggest South Asian donor to Afghanistan. Moreover, the mention of a library has baffled Indian officials and some believe that Trump may have confused Afghanistans Parliament building built by India, for a library.

Ever since the US-led NATO troops took on the extremist Taliban regime and toppled it after the attacks in USA on September 11, 2001, India has been involved in rebuilding and reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, as well as in maintaining peace and security. Indias aid to the war-ravaged nation has figured in terms of infrastructure projects, humanitarian assistance, economic development, capacity building and empowering Afghanistans security personnel, and enhancing connectivity.

One of Indias most important contributions to Afghanistan has been the reconstruction of the Afghan Parliament in Kabul costing over $90 Million and under the oversight of the Public Works Department (PWD). A part of the Parliament complex is called the Atal Block, named after the late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who had broached for the idea. The building was completed in 2015, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated it on December 5, 2015. India also gifted four Mi25 attack choppers to help the government counter Taliban in the country.

In 2016, Prime Minister of India inaugurated the Afghan-India Friendship Dam or the Salma Dam in Herat province of Western Afghanistan. The hydroelectric and irrigation dam project shall provide 42 MW of power and irrigate up to 75000 hectares. The $290 Million AIFD project is located on the Hari River which flows into Iran. India had objected to this development and had attempted to halt or sabotage the project for years. However, asserting the need for trilateral cooperation in the region through the Chabahar Port, India convinced Iran to give up its demur. In 2018, despite security threats, India also pledged to build a dam on the Kabul river in Afghanistan, which has irked Pakistan. The Shahtoot dam is estimated to cost about $305 Million. Pakistan has been seeking a water-sharing treaty with Afghanistan and the Shahtoot Dam shall serve as leverage to Afghanistan in bringing Pakistan to the negotiating table, who otherwise has been involved militarily by aiding Taliban fighters and providing safe havens for terror sanctuaries on its territory.

India has spent over a $100 Million in the expansion of the Chabahar Port in Iran and has built the 218 kilometre Zaranj Delaram Road in Afghanistan which shall connect Chabahar with Afghanistans Ring Road. Hence, it shall serve as a crucial means of transport of goods and services in and out of Afghanistan, weakening Talibans grip on the nation, and assisting US troops who are blocked out by Pakistan ever since the aid cut by USA, tightening their supplies. Pakistan has long denied access to India through its land even to transport humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. Yet, India remains the second largest destination for Afghan exports. The Chabahar Agreement between the tripartite, Afghanistan, India and Iran shall boost trade and economic development of Afghanistan and the Salma and the Shahtoot Dams shall ensure the same for the Afghan people.

In the education sector, India has developed various schools and libraries under Community Development Initiatives. It has also reconstructed an elite high school in Kabul, and provides scholarships to study in India to about 1000 afghan students ever year. A cricket stadium in Kandahar costing about $1 Million had also been inaugurated in 2018. Afghan government has also received aid in terms of wheat from India. Besides this, it has helped build roads, power transmission lines to empower people and uplift them from the clutches of the extremists influence by facilitating livelihood opportunities. India also helps train diplomats and security personnel with capacity building in focus. It has pledged to train security personnel in the country to empower and harden them so that they shall forever be prepared to protect their interests and are not left stranded and paralysed with the probable withdrawal of foreign troops in the future.

Indian government has earned immense goodwill in Afghanistan with its humanitarian and development efforts serving as a healing touch to the war-torn nation. Indias constructive role in Afghanistan has averted a more severe humanitarian crisis than is at present owing to the perpetual war, the Taliban threatening nearly 70 per cent of the nation and the government struggling to gain control over half its territory. Indias efforts in the country should infact be applauded rather than mocked by the President of the United States, which is the largest foreign stakeholder in Afghanistan.

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At least 30 people have been killed in the collapse of a gold mine in north-eastern Afghanistan. 2019-01-6Afghanistan

The makeshift mine collapsed trapping villagers seeking gold in north-eastern Badakhshan province.

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KABUL: During an extra-ordinary meeting held on Sunday and attended by World Health Organization (WHO) high ranking delegation and a number of the relevant ministries, Chief Executive Dr. Abdullah Abdullah stressed on implementation of polio vaccination drive in turbulent areas, Bakhtar News Agency (BNA) reported. Appreciating WHO humanitarian assistances, CE Abdullah asked for further cooperation in this respect.He added non-contagious diseases are being increased and a solution should be sought for that.Minister of public health Feruzuddin Feruz reported that uprooting polio is our priority, adding polio results have been in contrary with our expectation and it shows increase in compare with last year, the agency added. He also reported that his ministry has signed a health package with WHO and they need financial support to execute that.WHO chairman vowed to cooperate with Afghanistan in implementation of the health package and would continue its financial assistances. CE Abdullah also instructed the ministries of rural rehabilitation and agriculture to include polio vaccination campaign within their national programs. The Kabul Times

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WHO to increase assistances to Afghanistan

Reviews

A game with the irresistible momentum of Civ, or the colourful intricacy of TropicoRock, Paper, Shotgun

Afghanistan '11 was an interesting game to play from the standpoint of someone who had actually been there and experienced aspects of it firsthand.8/10 Gameskinny

Afghanistan '11 is the sequel to the highly praised and innovative Vietnam '65. It enhances and builds on it: Afghanistan '11 changes the paradigm of wargaming and manages to bring Counter-Insurgency and guerrilla warfare to your screen, properly represented thanks to a revolutionary gameplay!

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The year is 2011, you are commanding the US army operations in Afghanistan.

But contrary to the previous generations of military officers in your family, killing the enemy is only a secondary mission.

Most of your efforts and resources are spent elsewhere trying to grab the Hearts & Minds of the local population. Providing security to the civilians, persuading the local villagers to reject the Taliban and isolating Militia leaders is your main focus.

Counter-Insurgency will have better results in the long run than conventional tactics but a simple incident during a routine patrol can ruin your relationship with the locals and damage your image in the Western newspapers.

The Afghanistan terrain offers a very good cover to the rebels who can easily hide in the mountains and natural caves. Patience and good use of technology can give you the decisive advantage in this merciless game of hide and seek. When you spot an enemy unit or an opium plantation with a drone, you call in air support or artillery to eliminate the target immediately: speed will be crucial!.

But having the air supremacy is not enough to win the war against the insurgents. IEDs, rocket launchers and sneaky ambushes are common threats for your ground units and helicopters.

Casualties weaken the morale and the overall support from the folks back home in the USA, so make sure to keep your men safe and well supplied, and victory may well be yours...

2017 Slitherine Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Afghanistan '11, Slitherine Ltd. and their Logos are all trademarks of Slitherine Ltd. All other marks and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Developed by Every Single Soldier, Retro Epic and Slitherine.

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