Taliban Ask for More Foreign Aid As UN Pledges Over $1 billion

(Bloomberg) -- The Taliban asked for additional humanitarian aid from the the international community a day after the United Nations raised more than $1.2 billion in emergency pledges to help the country recover from two decades of war.

“It is known that the people of Afghanistan have been reeling under the brunt of war for forty years,” Amir Khan Muttaqi, acting foreign minister of Taliban, told reporters in Kabul Tuesday. “That’s why we hope the international community will lend a helping hand to Afghanistan in various domains.”

“We are pleased to hear about the pledge of $1 billion from the UN. We promise that all the relief aid will reach those who deserve it,” Muttaqi said, adding that he hoped that agencies like the International Monetary Fund would also “consider providing assistance.”

Without an internationally recognized government in place, the IMF and other donors have halted their fiscal support programs to the aid-reliant nation.

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Foreign aid accounted for 43% of the Afghan economy in 2020, according to the World Bank. The country remains among the world’s poorest, with gross domestic product per capita of just $509 in the same year.

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Last week a former Afghan central bank official told Bloomberg that moves by the U.S. to freeze Afghan government reserves held in American accounts last month would dry up liquidity, force banks to close and push the country into further poverty. 

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