(Islamabad) Afghanistan is “on the brink of economic collapse” and the international community must revive its financial support and humanitarian aid to the country, the Pakistani foreign minister warned Thursday during an interview in Islamabad with American, Chinese and Russian diplomats.
“Afghanistan is today on the brink of economic collapse”, declared Shah Mehmood Qureshi at the opening of the meeting of this “troika plus”, in which the new American envoy for Afghanistan, Thomas participates. West.
Diplomats are due to meet with Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi on Thursday.
If the situation worsens, the ability of the new Taliban regime to rule the country will be “severely limited,” Qureshi continued. “It is therefore imperative that the international community urgently support the resumption of humanitarian aid.”
This includes giving Afghanistan access to funds frozen by Western donors since the Taliban took control of the country in August, he said.
This support “will help our efforts to revive economic activities and make the Afghan economy stable and sustainable,” he said.
The measures will also benefit Western countries, he also assured. “If you think that you are far away, that Europe is safe and that these areas will not be affected by terrorism, don’t forget the history,” he said. “We have learned from the past and we don’t want to make the same mistakes again”.
The Taliban government has still not been recognized by the international community and the already precarious economy is collapsing, with a national currency, the Afghani, strongly devalued.
The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have suspended their aid.
The United Nations has repeatedly warned in recent weeks that Afghanistan is on the brink of a very serious humanitarian crisis, with half of its population at risk of running out of food.
This is Mr. West’s first trip to the region since his appointment in October to replace Zalmay Khalilzad, who served during the US withdrawal that precipitated the Taliban’s return to power in August.
West, who was in Brussels this week discussing Afghanistan with NATO officials, said the Taliban had “very clearly” come out for a return of international aid to their country, normalization of their relations with foreign countries and the lifting of international sanctions against them.
The diplomat called on the other states involved to stand united in the face of this crisis, noting that Washington could not act alone.