untitled design

The US and the Taliban are negotiating to unfreeze funds

The US and Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban resumed talks this week in Doha, the Qatari capital, on setting up a mechanism to release funds after the country’s particularly deadly earthquake, the government said. State Department.

The Taliban are looking for a way to release some of the Afghan stockpiles that had been deposited abroad – and have been seized by the US – since the disaster. Washington wants guarantees that they will be used for humanitarian purposes.

At meetings on Wednesday and Thursday, the US reiterated its recent pledge to release $55 million to help earthquake victims, a State Department press release said. And “the two sides discussed in detail US actions to preserve $3.5 billion in Afghan bank reserves for the benefit of the Afghan people,” it added.

The US, led by the Joe Biden administration’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Tom West, also cited its “concerns about the Taliban’s increased involvement in the distribution of humanitarian aid” and about “transparency in services”.

After the Taliban recaptured power on August 15, 2021, Washington in February seized $7 billion, part of the Afghan central bank’s reserves, that were deposited in the US.

US President Joe Biden intended half of this amount to be allocated to compensate the families of the victims of the attacks of September 11, 2001 in the US and the other half to provide humanitarian aid in Afghanistan, but in a way that would guarantee that the money they will not fall into the hands of the new fundamentalist Sunni regime.

The Asian country, facing a very serious economic crisis, was hit by a 5.9-magnitude earthquake that killed more than 1,000 people in its eastern part.

The U.S. delegation said during the talks that it supports “the demands of the Afghan people to allow girls to return to school and to allow women to work, contribute to the country’s economic development, move and express themselves freely,” according to with the press release of the American Foreign Ministry.

However, the special envoy for women’s rights in Afghanistan, Rina Amiri, said on Twitter that she had decided not to take part in the talks.

While she said she supported discussions on some issues with the Taliban to improve the lives of Afghans, she added that she was “very concerned about the actions of the Taliban in areas that my office is responsible for” and “disappointed that strong international commitment has so far not led to substantial results for women, girls and populations at risk.”

Source: Capital

You may also like

Get the latest

Stay Informed: Get the Latest Updates and Insights

 

Most popular