Kabul province is also dealing with the highest mortality in the country, 29 dead. While there are treatment and quarantine facilities at the Muhammad Ali Jinnah Hospital, Sheikh Zayed Hospital, Esteghlal Hospital and the Darul Aman Palace, the government fears they will soon run out of beds.
It is significant that Pakistan has already stepped up cross-border terrorism in Kashmir — at a time when both the countries were facing the corona pandemic — to pursue its line of ‘retaliation’ against the abrogation of Art 370 by India. It is not difficult to imagine that the faith-based motivation of the Mujahideen can override any virus-related distraction and that Pakistan will intensify its subversive activity in J&K in the likely event of its acquiring a sway in Afghanistan — on the return of a Taliban-dominated rule in that country
Both Abdullah and Ghani held oath taking ceremonies in capital Kabul on 9th of March, further fueling political tensions amid ongoing efforts to find a negotiated political settlement to ongoing violence
The 203rd Thunder Corps in a statement said the Afghan forces effectively responded to a Taliban attack in Sahak area of Zurmat district, killing at least six militants
The UN agency noted that tens of thousands of Afghan citizens have crossed over from Pakistan to Afghanistan since the temporary re-opening of the border last week
Observers are concerned that some of these returnees might be asymptomatic carriers of the virus and therefore unwittingly spread it all throughout the country on their way back to their homes in both the country’s urban and rural areas
Prior to the latest rift, the rejuvenated yet fragile Afghan peace process faced deadlocks as differences persisted between Kabul and the Taliban over a proposed exchange of prisoners
Catholic chapel of the Italian Embassy in Kabul – the only Catholic church in Afghanistan – has suspended celebrations to respond to the containment measures of the coronavirus. This is what Father Giovanni Scalese, Barnabite priest, at the head of the Missio sui iuris in Afghanistan reports to Agenzia Fides. “At the end of February – says the priest in a note sent to Fides – I had sent a message regarding the precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the covid-19 disease
The Afghan government announced last week that it has formed a negotiating team led by former intelligence chief Masoom Stanikzai to hold talks with the Taliban group
In Kabul, Afghan security forces sifted through the debris of a Sikh temple after a militant attack left at least 25 worshipers dead