KABUL, 28 November 2021, (TON): Afghanistan’s economy could shrink by 30 per cent or more in the coming months amid an economic and humanitarian crisis in the war-hit country, warned International Monetary Fund.

Asia Times said “in a report that Afghanistan’s financial condition is continuously moving towards a total economic collapse. Quoting IMF, the report said Afghanistan is teetering towards a catastrophic famine situation. The economic instability could be traced from the time when the western forces decided to pull-out troops from the country.”

Most of the international forums including the IMF, World Bank, EU, US stopped their aid and assistance to Afghanistan with the onset of the Taliban’s regime in Kabul.

The report said “the move came as the international community did not want their funds to fall into the hands of a regime that has thus far “taken few if any practical steps to eliminate transnational jihadi networks in its midst.”

Besides the aid refusals, the US also froze Afghanistan’s worth $9.5 billion held in US banks and financial institutions.

KABUL, 28 November 2021, (TON): The Taliban co-founder and now prime minister of Afghanistan Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund pledged on Saturday that his government will not interfere in other countries' internal affairs, and urged international charities to continue offering aid to the war-ravaged country.

Hassan's audio speech broadcast on state television, his first address to the nation since the Taliban seized power in August, came ahead of next week's meeting between the United States and the Taliban in Doha.

Hassan in a nearly 30-minute speech said that "we assure all the countries that we will not interfere in their internal affairs and we want to have good economic relations with them."

"We are drowned in our problems and we are trying to get the strength to bring our people out of miseries and hardships with God's help."

ISLAMABAD, 28 November 2021, (TON): Pakistan has strongly condemned and rejected the highly provocative and irresponsible statement made by chief of India’s Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Mohan Bhagwat, calling for the undoing of the partition.

In a statement issued in Islamabad “Foreign Office spokesperson Asim Iftikhar said this is not the first time that the RSS chief has publicly indulged in such delusional thinking and historical revisionism.”

He said those belonging to the BJP and its ideological fountainhead RSS would be well advised to refrain from making such provocative and irresponsible statements, accept the established realities and learn to follow the imperatives of peaceful coexistence.

The spokesperson said “Pakistan has repeatedly highlighted the threat posed to the regional peace and stability by the toxic mix of the extremist Hindutva ideology and expansionist foreign policy being pursued by the ruling RSS-BJP dispensation in India.”

He said “in the internal context, this dangerous mindset aims to completely marginalize and dispossess the minorities in India, while in the external dimension; it poses an existential threat to all neighbours of India.”

ISLAMABAD, 28 November 2021, (TON): The military’s media wing said “two soldiers of the Pakistan Army were martyred when terrorists attacked the military check post in a tribal area of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.”

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said “in a statement on Saturday that terrorists targeted a military post in Datta Khel, an area of North Waziristan district.”

It added “during intense exchange of fire, two soldiers, Naik Rehman, age 27 years, resident of Chitral and Lance Naik Arif, age 22 years, resident of Tank, embraced Shahadat [martyrdom].”

The military’s media wind said search operation in the area is being carried out to eliminate any other terrorists.

Earlier this week, a soldier of the Pakistan Army embraced martyrdom when a vehicle of security forces was targeted by the terrorists near the Pakistan-Iran border in Balochistan, the military had said.

According to the ISPR, a group of terrorists, in a cowardly attack, targeted a patrolling party of security forces in the Panjgur area of the province along the border.

DHAKA, 28 November 2021, (TON): While speaking to the media here in Chennai, Ramachandran said “eight people have died in rain-related incidents in Tamil Nadu, out of which three people lost their lives yesterday. Two teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed in Chinglepet and one in Kanchipuram.”

He added “waterlogging has been reported at 220 places in Chennai, out of which water is cleared at 34 places. The process to pump out floodwater is ongoing at 127 places.”

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin is meeting governor RN Ravi to discuss heavy rainfall in the state.

NAYPYITAW, 28 November 2021, (TON): Five shipping containers of produce were exchanged at the Kyin San Kyawt border gate, around 11 kilometres (6.8 miles) from the northern Myanmar city of Muse.

Officials said “two Myanmar-China border crossings have re-opened for trade after the movement of goods was suspended for almost seven months.”

Five shipping containers of produce were exchanged on Friday at the Kyin San Kyawt border gate, around 11 kilometres (6.8 miles) from the northern Myanmar city of Muse.

Min Thein, vice-chair of the Muse Rice Wholesale Centre, said an estimated 800,000 bags of rice had been in limbo since the border was shut in April.

Htold media "it will take one month to export all these rice bags.”

China says it will allow more trucks to cross next week.

Elsewhere in Myanmar's Shan state, the Chinshwehaw border gate also re-opened for commerce Friday, the Chinese embassy in Yangon said.

DHAKA, 28 November 2021, (TON): Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina urged the international community to give proper attention to the Rohingya issue as growing violence and crimes in the Rohingya camps can soon spread beyond borders.

She said "the security situation in the Cox's Bazar camps is getting complicated. The growing violence and crimes can soon spread beyond our borders.”

The prime minister made the statement in a video message played in the two-day13th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit that concluded in Cambodia.

She also cautioned the world community saying that a provisional response to the crisis will serve little purpose.

She said "a critical test of our multilateral cooperation will be to find a lasting and peaceful solution for Myanmar's forcibly displaced people, the Rohingyas.”

In this connection she mentioned that Bangladesh offered temporary shelter to the Rohingyas and stabilised the situation.

DHAKA, 28 November 2021, (TON): India's Border Security Force (BSF) detained a Bangladeshi national inside the country's territory near Naogaon border.

BSF authorities said “Monirul Islam was held along with some cattle from near Hapania area under Porsha upazila of Naogaon, two km inside Indian territory.”

The BGB official said “he was handed over to the police after BSF filed a case against him with Habipur Police Station in Malda district on charges of illegal entry and smuggling cattle.”

Arrested Monirul Islam hails from Bishnupur village in Nitpur union of Naogaon's Porsha upazila, reports our Natore correspondent.

Locals said “a group of 7-8 Bangladeshis entered India illegally last night to bring cattle. Some BSF members from Kedaripara camp chased them in Bhutparagram area while they were returning to Bangladesh with cattle this morning.”

KABUL, 27 November 2021, (TON): According to Kazakh media reports “Kazakhstan’s ambassador to Kabul, Alimkhan Esengeldiev, met with the acting foreign minister in the Taliban government of Afghanistan, Amir Khan Muttaqi, on 26 November, 2021, writes Akhas Tazhutov, a political analyst with Eurasia Review.”

During the meeting, the two parties stressed the importance of developing trade between the two countries and stated willingness to expand the bilateral trade co-operation. Alimkhan Esengeldiev expressed his satisfaction with the security situation in the Afghan capital and urged the international community to provide humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.

Amir Khan Muttaqi reiterated the new Afghan authorities’ commitment to establish peaceful relations with all countries, primarily with neighboring states in the region. He also expressed the new government’s determination to prevent the emergence of any security threat from the territory of Afghanistan.

The exporting process has recently restarted, the country’s Agriculture Ministry reports. As at September 29, approximately 200,000 tonnes of flour and 33,000 tonnes of grain have been delivered from Kazakhstan to Afghanistan through Uzbekistan.

BRASILIA, 27 November 2021, (TON): Saudi Arabia's foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah opened the new building of the Kingdom’s embassy in Brazil.

Prince Faisal toured the new embassy building and was briefed on the work of the departments during a visit on the sidelines of his official trip to Brazil.

During the inauguration of the new building, the foreign minister met with the embassy’s employees, extending his thanks and praise to them for the diplomatic work they do to represent the Kingdom, strengthening bilateral relations with the Brazil, and taking care of Saudi nationals living in Brazil.