Papuashvili slams EU pressure over Georgia's visa waiver scheme
Georgia's Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili has accused Brussels of using visa policy as a political weapon rather than a technical instrument....
Afghanistan’s foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, has said distanced the Afghan government from recent incidents involving Afghan nationals on U.S. soil.
He instead blamed the American training and vetting systems for the incidents.
Muttaqi said this while addressing political analysts at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kabul on Wednesday.
The minister spoke specifically about Rahman Ullah Lakanwal, the Afghan national accused of killing a member of the national guard and seriously injuring another in Washington last week.
He told the audience that the attacker “was trained by the Americans themselves” and had left Afghanistan “through an illegal process that did not match international norms”.
He added that Afghans had already suffered for more than two decades at the hands of Western-backed forces and insisted the latest case “does not relate to the Afghan government or people”.
The minister renewed calls for diplomatic ties and consular services in the United States, arguing that embassies serve as “the homes of their citizens”, and that proper consular channels are essential “to prevent people from being forced to travel illegally or engage in unlawful acts”.

Hours after his remarks, the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that immigration officers had arrested “an unvetted Afghan national” near Washington.
The suspect identified as Jaan Shah Safi was alleged to have provided support to the Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) and supplied weapons to “his father who is a commander of a militia group in Afghanistan”.
DHS said the Biden administration had admitted “nearly 190,000 unvetted Afghan aliens”.
According to Afghan journalist Bilal Sarwary, Safi was a long-time National Directorate of Security (NDS) official in his native Kunar province.
Sarwary said he rose through the ranks, becoming deputy NDS chief for Kunar and later Deputy Director of Operations for Nangarhar.
Over the years, he worked closely with US military and intelligence units in eastern Afghanistan and was known to American officers for his “reliability” and “operational effectiveness”.
U.S. data indicates that around 76,000 Afghans were brought to the country under “Operation Allies Welcome”, with officials maintaining they were screened through multiple databases and security layers.
Vince Zampella, co-creator of the Call of Duty gaming franchise, has died in a car crash involving a Ferrari crash on Monday in Los Angeles, United States.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is monitoring recent Iranian military exercises and will raise the issue with U.S. President Donald Trump during his visit to Washington next week.
U.S. President Donald Trump has approved plans to construct a new class of battleships, which he described as larger, faster and significantly more powerful than any previous U.S. warship.
Libya’s chief of staff, Mohammed Ali Ahmed Al-Haddad, has died in a plane crash shortly after departing Türkiye’s capital, Ankara, the prime minister of Libya’s UN-recognised government has said.
It would be smart for Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to leave power, and the United States could keep or sell the oil it had seized off the coast of Venezuela in recent weeks, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday.
Military representatives from Cambodia and Thailand met in Chanthaburi province on Wednesday ahead of formal ceasefire talks at the 3rd special GBC meeting scheduled for 27th December.
France’s government is moving to pass emergency legislation to keep the state operating into January after lawmakers failed to agree on a 2026 budget, as pressure grows from investors and credit ratings agencies.
Australia’s most populous state has passed sweeping new gun control and anti-terror laws following a mass shooting at Bondi Beach, tightening firearm ownership rules, banning the public display of terrorist symbols and expanding police powers to restrict protests.
Thailand and Cambodia both reported fresh clashes on Wednesday, as the two sides prepared to hold military talks aimed at easing tensions along their shared border.
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