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17-08-2021
By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies
KABUL/ ISLAMABAD/ WASHINGTON/ RIYADH/ AMMAN/ DUBAI: The Taliban have declared an “amnesty” across Afghanistan and urged women to join its government, trying to calm nerves across a tense capital city that only the day before saw chaos at its airport as thousands mobbed the city’s international airport in a desperate attempt to flee.
Evacuation flights from Afghanistan resumed as a Western security official told the Reuters news agency on Tuesday that the Kabul airport’s tarmac and runway – which troops from the United States control – were now clear of crowds.
The official said military flights evacuating diplomats and civilians from Afghanistan have started taking off.
At least seven people died in Monday’s chaos, including several people who clung to the sides of a jet as it took off.
In Washington, DC, US President Joe Biden said he stood “squarely behind” his decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan and fired scorching criticism at the country’s former Western-backed leadership for failing to resist the Taliban.
“I stand squarely behind my decision,” he said in a televised address from the White House. “After 20 years, I’ve learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw US forces.”
The Taliban have meanwhile declared the war in Afghanistan over and a senior leader said the group would wait until foreign forces had left before creating a new governance structure.
China said it was ready for “friendly relations” with the Taliban, while Russia and Iran also made diplomatic overtures.
A US administration official Monday said that the Taliban will be denied access to any Afghan reserves held in US accounts.
“Any Central Bank assets the Afghan government has in the United States will not be made available to the Taliban,” the US official told AFP, adding that the US forces were evacuating Afghanistan’s capital after the Taliban’s swift takeover.
According to the IMF, the central bank’s gross reserves totaled $9.4 billion at the end of April but most of those funds are held outside of Afghanistan, according to a person familiar with the matter. It was not immediately clear what share of the assets is held in the United States.
The country´s central bank governor Ajmal Ahmady went to Twitter to detail his harrowing escape from the country on a military plane on Sunday, after he and his team tried to stabilise the currency amid the Taliban advance towards the capital.
Ahmady, who did not say where he was, said the central bank was informed on Friday that “given the deteriorating environment, we wouldn’t get any more dollar shipments,” and he met Saturday with banks and money exchangers to reassure them.
“Once (the) president´s departure was announced, I knew within minutes chaos would follow. I cannot forgive him for creating that without a transition plan,” he tweeted Monday. “It did not have to end this way. I am disgusted by the lack of any planning by Afghan leadership. Saw at airport them leave without informing others.”
In addition to freezing assets, Washington could also block aid to Afghanistan from multilateral lenders like the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, as it has with other regimes it does not recognize, like Venezuela.
“Afghanistan is tremendously dependent on foreign aid… so access to international economic funds will be crucial,” said Vanda Felbab-Brown, a foreign policy expert at The Brookings Institution. But cutting off funds in an attempt to undermine a Taliban government “has massive humanitarian consequences, and human and economic development consequences,” she told AFP.
The IMF in June released the latest installment of a $370 million loan to Afghanistan approved in November to help support the economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The World Bank meanwhile has more than two dozen development projects ongoing in the country and has provided $5.3 billion since 2002, mostly in grants.
The United States provided $4.7 billion in aid in the 2019 fiscal year alone, according to government data. “The Taliban government members have no experience as to how to deal with international donors,” Felbab-Brown said. “They don´t have any experience with administering large international aid packages.”
Saudi Arabia Monday urged the Taliban to keep the lives, properties of Afghan citizens safe and ensure their security as per the Islamic principles, as the group takes control over Afghanistan.
“The kingdom stands with the choices that the Afghan people make without interference,” the foreign ministry of Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, said in a statement issued by official media.
“Based on the noble principles of Islam…, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia hopes that the Taliban movement and all Afghan parties will work to preserve security, stability, lives, and property.”
It also voiced hope the situation would stabilize as soon as possible, as thousands of Afghans fearful of the Taliban thronged Kabul airport in desperate efforts to leave. Five people were killed in the chaos on Monday.
Fellow Gulf state Qatar said it was seeking a peaceful transition in Afghanistan and was doing its utmost to help efforts to evacuate diplomats and foreign staff in international organizations from the country.
Doha has hosted a Taliban office since 2013 for peace talks and has played a central role in trying to reach a political settlement in Afghanistan with the withdrawal of US troops.
“There is international concern about the fast pace of developments and Qatar is doing its utmost to bring a peaceful transition, especially after the vacuum that happened,” Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani told a news conference in the Jordanian capital Amman.
Bahrain, current chair of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, said on Monday it would initiate consultations with fellow Gulf Arab states regarding the situation in Afghanistan, state media reported.
