US to deliver humanitarian aid to Afghanistan: Taliban

A US delegation said Washington would provide Afghanistan with humanitarian aid and also help facilitate deliveries from other agencies, the Taliban said on Monday.

The first face-to-face meetings between representatives of the Taliban and the US since the Islamist movement’s takeover of Afghanistan were held in Doha, Qatar at the weekend.

A statement from the Taliban-run Foreign Ministry said the new government in Kabul would work with charitable agencies to “transparently deliver humanitarian assistance to those deserving.”

The US Department of State on Sunday said that discussions between the Taliban and US officials were “candid and professional,” but offered few details on what was agreed.

The Taliban said it hoped Washington and Kabul could work together to get diplomatic relations to a “better state” and that aid should not be linked to politics.

Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi on Saturday said that in the meeting his side requested that the US unfreeze Afghanistan’s assets.

Following the Taliban takeover in August, the US froze close to 9 billion dollars’ worth of assets in the country.

The move led to a drastic shortage of currency, as well as spikes in the price of basic food items and fuel.

There are growing concerns that the country’s economy and health system are on the brink of collapse. The UN recently warned 1 million Afghan children are at risk of starvation as winter approaches.

Following the Taliban takeover in August, the US froze close to $9 bn worth of assets in the country

(AFP) Members of International Committee of Red Cross Rehabilitation centre helps a Taliban member, who claims to have lost his leg earlier during a US forces strike, in Kabul on Monday.