Afghan Officials and Taliban Meet in Islamabad; India and Kazakhstan Sign Uranium Supply Contract; Security Tightened in Sindh;

Afghanistan

Afghan officials and Taliban meet for talks

An Afghan government delegation met with Taliban officials in Islamabad for the first time on Tuesday, according to Afghan, Pakistani, and Western officials (NYT, WSJ, Dawn, Pajhwok). The meeting, which took place just outside of Islamabad in Murree, was one of the highest-level contacts between the Taliban and Afghan officials in recent years, signaling a possible beginning to a formal peace process. The United States and China took part in the meeting as observers. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that the two parties would meet again at the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, in two weeks. “The participants agreed to continue talks to create an environment conducive for peace and reconciliation process,” the statement said.

Wolesi Jirga denies first female nominee to Supreme Court

On Wednesday, the Wolesi Jirga, or lower house of parliament, voted on the nominees for the Supreme Court and Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) on Wednesday (Pajhwok). The Wolesi Jirga approved Khalilullah Sediq as governor of Da Afghanistan Bank with 100 votes in his favor; a nominee needs 96 votes for confirmation. The Jirga also voted on the Supreme Court nominees, Mohammad Yusuf Halim and Anisa Rasouli, the first woman nominated to the Supreme Court. Halim was able to secure 103 votes to be confirmed as a member of the Supreme Court, but Anisa Rasouli was only able to find 88 votes in her favor (Pajhwok).

India

India and Kazakhstan sign uranium supply contract

On Wednesday India and Kazakhstan signed five agreements including a defence pact to enhance military cooperation and a contract for supply of uranium, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev held comprehensive talks in Astana (PTI, ET). They also agreed to work closely to expand bilateral trade, specifically by addressing “structural impediments” between India and Kazakhstan. Referring to the renewed contract for a long term supply of natural uranium to India, Modi said: “Kazakhstan was one of the first countries with which we launched civil nuclear cooperation through a uranium purchase contract. We are pleased to have a much larger second contract now. We intend to expand cooperation in other minerals, as well.” Modi is currently on a six nation week long tour of Central Asia and Russia. This afternoon he arrived in the Russian city of Ufa to attend summits of the BRICS emerging economies and regional Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (PTI, BBC).

India to contribute $18 billion to BRICS foreign reserve pool

India will contribute $18 billion to the $100 billion foreign-exchange reserves pool that is being set up by the five BRICS nations to help each other in case of any problems with dollar liquidity (ET). Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa have signed an agreement to set up the $100 billion pool, with maximum $41 billion coming from China. India’s contribution of $18 billion to the Pool will be same as that of Brazil and Russia. South Africa would contribute $5 billion. In a statement, the Russian Central Bank said: “The central banks of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa signed the Operational Agreement on July 7, 2015 in Moscow. The Agreement outlines the terms of mutual support for member states in the framework of the Agreement on BRICS Pool of Conventional Currency Reserves.” The fund will be an “insurance instrument” that members nations could draw on if they experience problems with their balance of payments. The pool will go into force on July 30.

Woman accuses Ola driver of “masturbating while driving”

An Indian woman has accused a taxi driver linked to app based aggregator Ola, of masturbating while he was recently driving her in Delhi (BBC). The woman posted details of her experience on Facebook, following which it was picked up by local media. App based aggregator services have been criticised in India for not doing proper background checks on drivers they recruit. In December, a woman in Delhi alleged that the driver of her Uber cab had raped her after she fell asleep in the backseat of the car. The Delhi government immediately banned app based services, with several other states following suit. The Uber cab driver is currently facing trial and has denied all the charges against him. However, they recently came back on the roads after Ola managed to successfully convince the Delhi high court to overturn the ban. Ola was valued at $2.5 billion in April.

Pakistan

Security tightened, phone service suspended for holiday

The provincial government of Sindh has made preparations to tighten security for July 9 in preparation for Youm-i-Ali, a holiday to honor the anniversary of the death of Imam Ali (Dawn). Mobile phone service in Sindh has already been suspended on Wednesday between the hours of 4:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. Tomorrow, phone services will be suspended for most of the day — from 9:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. — in all major cities in Sindh, including Karachi, Hyderabad, and Sukkur. On Tuesday, the provincial government imposed a ban on pillion-riding (carrying a passenger behind the driver on a motorcycle) for Wednesday and Thursday (ET). The ban does not apply to senior citizens, women and children, or journalists.

Power cuts continue in southern Pakistan

A major power failure affected large parts of southern Pakistan Tuesday night, plunging more than 20 million people in to darkness (BBC, Dawn). The city’s privately-run power company, K-Electric, said the disruption in service was caused by a fault in the distribution system and that engineers were working to restore service. K-Electric said that one of its main transmission lines was tripped Tuesday evening, which led to breakdowns at three other power plants. Businesses in Karachi, the worst-affected area, were left without power and many shoppers had difficulty navigating their way out of crowded shopping malls. Power outages are common in Pakistan because of chronic electricity shortages; last week, a similar outage left parts of Karachi without power for almost 18 hours.

— Emily Schneider and Shuja Malik

Edited by Peter Bergen

WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP/Getty Images