Afghanistan calls foreign nations' sanctions cruel

The handout photo released by the Bulgarian Prosecutor's Office on February 18, 2023, shows belongings of Afghanistan migrants in the cargo space of an abandoned truck, in which eighteen migrants have been found dead the day before, near the village of Lokorsko, about 20 kilometres north-east of Sofia. Amir Khan Muttaqi, the acting foreign minister of the government of Afghanistan, has called the sanctions imposed by foreign countries cruel.

Muttaqi said that the sanctions imposed by foreign nations were cruel and harmful to the Afghans who were being illegally taken to Bulgaria.

Muttaqi said Afghanistan is a place for all Afghanistans. Anyone has the right to live a dignified life, and invest in business in this country, even if they don't like the government, he said.

The prime minister said Afghanistan wants good relations with neighboring countries.

The bodies of 18 refugees who were smuggled into Bulgaria were returned to Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, on Wednesday.

Afghanistan rejected the US report on IS presence as propaganda.

Bulgarian authorities have discovered the bodies in a secret compartment in the back of a truck left on a highway near the country's capital, Sofia.

It confirmed that all 18 had died of suffocation, and seven people have been detained in connection with the deaths.