The Taliban on Sunday claimed that the United States will be providing humanitarian aid to the country of Afghanistan, The Associated Press reported.
The announcement regarding U.S. humanitarian and financial assistance that is meant to help the nation’s impoverished citizens, came after the two countries leaders met in Doha, Qatar, to participate in the first face-to-face discussion since the disorderly withdrawal of U.S. troops in August.
Although AP reported that the Taliban said the talks “went well,” the U.S. made it clear that despite the aid, the United States would not recognize the Taliban as the country’s official government.
State Department Spokesman Ned Price affirmed that the talks between the two powers were “candid and professional,” but echoed the fact that the Taliban and it’s representatives would be judged on their actions, not only their words.
The U.S. and the Taliban did not agree on everything, however. On Saturday, the Taliban announced their decision not to cooperate with the United States when asked to contain the growing role of the Islamic State in the government and throughout the turbulent country.
In a statement, Price said, “the U.S. delegation focused on security and terrorism concerns and safe passage for U.S. citizens, other foreign nationals and our Afghan partners, as well as on human rights, including the meaningful participation of women and girls in all aspects of Afghan society.”
During the Doha meeting, the Taliban did agree to control what would and would not happen within their borders when it came to attacks on foreign soil. Suhail Shaheen, the Taliban political spokesperson, said that the Taliban has given their commitment to the U.S. that their land will not be used by extremists to commit attacks against other countries.
Amid the conservation between the U.S. and the Taliban’s leaders, it was expected that the United States would bring up the pressing issue of Americans currently stranded inside Afghanistan, and whether they, alongside other U.S. allies, would be able to exit the country freely. Without going into much detail, the Taliban said in a statement that they would, in fact, “facilitate principled movement of foreign nationals.”
Although it appears that the Taliban and the United States are making efforts to maintain peace, there is good reason as to why the U.S. shouldn’t be too optimistic about a future relationship. Along with being a known human rights violator, the Taliban provided refuge to al-Qaida before it carried out the 9/11 attacks. Those attacks on our nation’s soil by al-Qaida resulted in the the U.S. government sending troops to invade Afghanistan in 2001.
Details regarding how the projected aid would get from the U.S. directly to the Afghan people while circumventing Taliban leaders have not yet been disclosed.
