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Indian officials in Kabul for talks on aid distribution

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NEW D ELHI -- Indian foreign ministry officials visited Kabul for talks with the Taliban and international organizations involved in the distribution of humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan, the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement Thursday. India has no diplomatic ties with Afghanistan since the Taliban took control of the country in August last year, but its diplomats have met Taliban representatives in Doha, the capital of Qatar, where they have an office. There was no immediate comment by the Taliban on the Indian officials' visit. India has dispatched 20,000 metric tons of wheat, 13 tons of medicines, 500,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines and winter clothing to Afghanistan to meet shortages there, Arindam Bagchi, the ministry spokesman, said in the statement. The consignments were handed over to the India Gandhi Children Hospital in Kabul and U.N. agencies including the World Health Organization and the World Food Program, the statement said, adding more medical assis...
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A frank exchange of views: French diplomats on rare strike

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PARIS -- Members of the French diplomatic corps are dropping their traditional reserve to go on a rare strike Thursday, angered by a planned reform they worry will hurt their careers and France’s standing in the world. Some ambassadors and numerous diplomats, in posts ranging from Tokyo to the Middle East and Washington, have said they would honor the day-long strike. They want President Emmanuel Macron to scrap a plan to merge career diplomats with a larger body of civil servants, starting in January. The action, announced by Macron in an April decree, will reportedly affect about 800 diplomats. Opponents claim that’s just the beginning. “We risk the disappearance of our professional diplomacy,” a group of 500 diplomats, wrote in a commentary published last week in Le Monde newspaper. “Today, (diplomatic) agents ... are convinced it is the very existence of the ministry that is now being put into question.” Union leaders said Thursday's job action is only the se...
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