US tells Taliban to ‘earn’ the release of frozen funds

WASHINGTON The United States rebuffed Friday an appeal by the Taliban to release Afghan means firmed after their preemption, saying the new government in Kabul must” earn” legality first.

Thomas West, the US Special Representative for Afghanistan, said in a twittered statement that Washington had long made clear that if the Taliban claimed power by military force rather than negotiating with the former US- backed government, that criticalnon-humanitarian aid would be cut off.

“That’s what passed,”West said.

” Legality & support must be earned by conduct to address terrorism, establish an inclusive government, & admire the rights of nonages, women & girls– including equal access to education & employment,”he said.

In an open letter Wednesday the Taliban called on the US Congress to release Afghan means firmed after their preemption of the country in August.

Washington seized nearly$9.5 billion in means belonging to the Afghan central bank, and the aid-dependent frugality has effectively collapsed– with civil retainers overdue for months and the storeroom unfit to pay for significances.

Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said in the letter that the biggest challenge facing Afghanistan was fiscal instability, and advised that profitable fermentation at home could lead to trouble abroad.

West said that Afghanistan was formerly in dire profitable and philanthropic woe before the Taliban preemption, due to times of war, failure and the Covid-19 epidemic.

“The US will continue to support the Afghan people with philanthropic aid,”he said, saying$ 474 million has formerly been handed this time.

Washington is also” making every trouble to help the UN & philanthropic actors gauge up to meet requirements this downtime,”he said.