Taliban call for lifting of sanctions on Afghanistan

The Taliban have called on the international community to lift its sanctions on Afghanistan shortly after the United Nations warns about the country’s ‘irreversible’ economic collapse.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, theTaliban’s deputy prime minister, made the demand during a conference on the national private sector on Friday, with some foreign representatives in attendance, Afghanistan’s TOLOnews television channel reported.

“I call for...the international community to lift the remaining sanctions on Afghanistan and give the opportunity for Afghans to play their role in the economic development inside and outside Afghanistan,” he said.

The official urged that nationwide security had been provided in Afghanistan and the ground was paved for trade and investment “like never before.”

He urged the Afghan traders inside and outside the country to invest in Afghanistan.

“Come to your own country. Your investment and trade here will benefit you and the Afghan nation,” Baradar said.

The Taliban authorities lack international recognition six months after overrunning Kabul as the last US-led international troops departed, ending 20 years of war.

The administration of US President Joe Biden has frozen nearly $9.5 billion in assets belonging to the Afghan central bank since the withdrawal of its occupation forces from the country in August 2021. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank have suspended activities in Afghanistan, withholding aid as well as $340 million in new reserves issued by the IMF last August.

Many of the US allies and Western governments have also largely suspended their financial assistance to Afghanistan since the US troops’ withdrawal and the Taliban’s rise to power.

On Wednesday, Deborah Lyons, the special representative of the UN secretary-general and head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), said that solving the Afghan people’s problems required collaborating with the Taliban.

Afghanistan on brink of 'irreversible' economic collapse: UN envoy

Humanitarian agencies may have distributed enough aid to Afghanistan to prevent large-scale famine and starvation, but the economic challenges have left the country on the brink of “irreversible” ruin, the UN envoy to Kabul says.

“It is now clear that it will be impossible to truly assist Afghan people without working with the de facto authorities,” Lyons said. “This must be difficult for some to accept. But it is essential.”

“Six months of indecision, marked by continued sanctions — albeit with some relief — and unstructured political engagement, are eroding vital social and economic coping systems and pushing the population into greater uncertainty,” Lyons said.

Afghanistan's economic collapse is "approaching a point of irreversibility," she cautioned.

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