Taliban say US to provide humanitarian aid to Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD – The United States has agreed to provide humanitarian aid to a desperately poor Afghanistan on the brink of economic disaster, while refusing to politically recognize the country’s new Taliban rulers, the Taliban said on Sunday.

The statement came at the end of the first direct talks between former enemies since the chaotic withdrawal of US troops in late August.

There was no immediate comment from the United States on the weekend meeting.

The Taliban said the talks in Doha, Qatar, “went well,” with Washington releasing humanitarian aid to Afghanistan after agreeing not to tie such assistance to formal recognition of the Taliban.

The United States has made it clear that the talks were by no means a preamble to recognition of the Taliban, who seized power on August 15 after the fall of the Allied government in the United States.

Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen also told The Associated Press that the movement’s acting foreign minister assured the United States during the talks that the Taliban was determined to ensure that the ground afghan is not used by extremists to launch attacks against other countries.

On Saturday, however, the Taliban ruled out cooperation with Washington to contain the increasingly active Islamic State group in Afghanistan.

IS, an enemy of the Taliban, has claimed responsibility for several recent attacks, including Friday’s suicide bombing that killed 46 minority Shia Muslims. Washington considers ISIS its greatest terrorist threat from Afghanistan.

“We are able to attack Daesh independently,” Shaheen said when asked if the Taliban would work with the United States to contain the Islamic State affiliate. He used an Arabic acronym for IS.

Bill Roggio, a senior researcher at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies that tracks militant groups, agreed that the Taliban did not need Washington’s help to track down and destroy the Afghan ISIS affiliate, known as the name of Islamic State in Khorasan Province, or ISKP.

The Taliban “have fought for 20 years to expel the United States, and the last thing they need is the return of the United States. They don’t need American help either, ”said Roggio, who also produces the foundation’s Long War Journal. “The Taliban must complete the difficult and time-consuming task of uprooting the ISKP cells and its limited infrastructure. He has all the knowledge and tools to do so. “

The IS affiliate does not have the advantage of the havens in Pakistan and Iran that the Taliban had in their fight against the United States, Roggio said. However, he warned that the Taliban’s long-standing support for al-Qaida makes them unreliable as counterterrorism partners with the United States.

The Taliban gave refuge to al-Qaida before committing the attacks of September 11. This sparked the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 which ousted the Taliban from power.

“It makes no sense for the United States to think that the Taliban can be a reliable counterterrorism partner, given the Taliban’s continued support for al-Qaida,” Roggio said.

During the meeting, US officials were to put pressure on the Taliban to allow Americans and others to leave Afghanistan. In their statement, the Taliban said without further details that they “would facilitate the movement of principle of foreign nationals”.