Call to pour aid into Afghanistan
RUSSIA’S ban on the Taliban as a terrorist group has not stopped Moscow officials from stepping in to support it, calling for the freeze on Afghanistan’s reserves to be lifted and for Western countries to lead a global conference to rebuild Afghanistan’s economy.
Russia’s envoy on Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov said Monday that the international community should unfreeze the Afghan government’s reserves or risk a spike in illegal narcotics and arms traffic.
He also called for an international conference to support Afghanistan’s recovery under the Taliban’s leadership, so that the US and allies could “correct at least some of the mistakes they have made” in the past 20 years, speaking to state-owned television.
The US froze Afghanistan central bank reserves held in US institutions on Aug. 15. The bank has around $9.5 billion in reserves, around $7bn of it held in US institutions. The International Monetary Fund blocked Afghanistan’s access to $460 million in emergency reserves while the World Bank halted funding to Afghanistan last week.
The threat of possible new conflict, spreading terrorism and a humanitarian catastrophe that scatters millions of Afghan refugees across the region is Russia’s nightmare scenario.
Last week’s terrorist attack at the Kabul airport claimed by Islamic State in Khorosan Province, threw Russia’s fears about Afghanistan into sharp relief – that the Taliban’s governance effort could fail, extremists affiliated with the Islamic State could gain a stronger foothold and the country could slide into chaos, destabilising Russia’s neighbourhood.
Russian officials and state-owned media have been crowing about what they are calling the US failure in Afghanistan, but increasingly Moscow’s attention is turning to fears that without international support and financial assistance, a new Taliban government will fail to stabilise the nation.
Moscow has been calling on the West to “accept the reality” of the Taliban’s victory, while pressing the Taliban to form an inclusive government including different political and ethnic groups, seen as its best hope of winning international support.
At the same time Russian officials are warning that no one should expect the Taliban to meet Western standards on democracy and cultural and religious practices.
The EU, which has pledged more $1bn in development aid to Afghanistan over the next five years, has said that money would now depend on the Taliban respecting human rights and meeting other conditions.
Peter Stano, European Commission spokesman on foreign affairs, said discussions on “financial assistance or
possible unfreezing or further freezing” were continuing, adding that EU foreign ministers would discuss the issue at a meeting in Slovenia this week. The bloc also has sanctions against several Taliban members, in line with the UN, he said.
Kabulov said Moscow was concerned about the political and security situation in Afghanistan and about the observance of human rights by the Taliban.
He called on the international community to open a humanitarian aid corridor to Afghanistan. One of the world’s poorest nations, Afghanistan is highly dependent on aid, and US President Joe Biden pledged August 16 to “continue to support the Afghan people” with humanitarian aid.
WHO and UNICEF last week called
for the “immediate establishment of a reliable and robust humanitarian airbridge to send in supplies”. UNICEF warned last week that a million Afghan children would suffer malnutrition without urgent humanitarian aid. Half the population - around 18 million people including 10 million children need assistance, the organisation says.
The World Food Program has warned of a looming humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. Food prices have skyrocketed, and families are selling basic household belongings on the roadside to try to scrape together money for food.
Russian officials have been in talks with the US, Pakistan, India, China, Iran and Central Asia to press for negotiations involving all of Afghanistan’s ethnic and political forces, to form a government and stabilise the country.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last week that the foreign ministers of the US, Russia, China and Pakistan – a group it calls the Extended Troika – had agreed to work together to help reach a political agreement on a new inclusive government.
But Krivosheyev, said there was nothing to suggest Russia would convince the Taliban to form an inclusive government, nor was it clear the Taliban would be able to contain terrorism or drug trafficking.
Russian officials, including the ambassador to Afghanistan Dmitry Zhirnov, have repeatedly praised the Taliban since its takeover for guaranteeing the security of its diplomats. Zhirnov met Taliban officials last week and told Russian media they had invited Russia to invest in Afghanistan, including in the extraction of its rich mineral deposits, “so this is a question for Russian business”.
But pro-kremlin Moskovksy Komsomolets newspaper on Thursday cautioned against rushing to recognise the Taliban in an article by columnist Mikhail Rostovsky headlined “In bed with the Taliban”.
“So far no one in the international community has recognised the Taliban as the ‘legitimate authorities of Afghanistan”, the article read. “The Taliban may create a stable and stable political regime in Kabul, or it may not. The Taliban may prove that their newfound ‘moderation’ is no shortterm PR stunt, or it may not. The Taliban may keep its promise not to turn Afghanistan into a playground for dangerous international terrorist organisations who threaten Russia too, or it might not.”
Russia has ruled out any military involvement in the future – while backing Central Asian allies. Russia has around 500 troops carrying out military exercises with Tajikistan on the Afghan border, designed to send a message it will not tolerate any spillover of Islamist extremists from Afghanistan.