Afghan Taliban leaders call for help as migrant crisis approaches

KABUL (Reuters) – Taliban officials have called for international aid on Saturday to address the escalating economic crisis that has exacerbated fears of an exodus of other Afghan refugees.

The comments, in a special meeting to celebrate UN International Migrants Day, highlighted the new Taliban Islamist government’s push to reach out to the world community four months after Kabul took power.

Movement’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai said it was the responsibility of countries like the United States, which had blocked central bank reserves of billions of dollars to help revive the war in Afghanistan after decades of war.

“The impact of the frozen funds is on ordinary people and not on the Taliban authorities,” he told the conference, representing the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and UNHCR, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

UN agencies estimate that millions of Afghans could go hungry in the winter without urgent help, but that aid has been hampered by a reluctance to deal directly with the international Taliban, in part because of concerns about women’s rights and political inclusion.

The sudden withdrawal of foreign aid after the Taliban victory has brought the fragile economy of Afghanistan closer to collapse. Millions are out of work and the banking system is partially operational.

“If the political and economic situation does not change, there will be more migration,” Stanikzai said.

The U.S. has issued guidelines that will allow for personal remittances to Afghanistan, but has not given up on releasing $ 9 billion in central bank reserves or lifting sanctions against some Taliban leaders.

Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi met with representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross on Saturday in Islamabad ahead of a meeting of foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Afghanistan.

The Taliban welcomed international humanitarian organizations and assured them that they would stop working without hindrance.