US authorises some transactions with Taliban to maintain support flowing to Afghanistan

It was unclear, nevertheless, whether or not the transfer would pave the way in which for proposed UN funds of some $6 million to the Islamists for safety.
Reuters on Tuesday completely reported a UN plan to subsidise subsequent yr the month-to-month wages of Taliban-run Interior Ministry personnel who guard UN services and to pay them month-to-month meals allowances, a proposal that raised questions on whether or not the funds would violate US sanctions.

The Treasury Department declined to say whether or not the brand new license would exempt the proposed UN funds from US sanctions on the Taliban.
Having designated the Taliban as a terrorist group for years, Washington has ordered its US property frozen and barred Americans from coping with them. The Treasury on Wednesday issued three common licenses aimed toward easing humanitarian support flows into Afghanistan. Two of the licenses enable US officers and people of sure worldwide organisations, such because the United Nations, to have interaction in transactions involving the Taliban or Haqqani Network for official enterprise. A 3rd license provides non-governmental organisations (NGOs) safety from US sanctions on the Taliban and the Haqqani Network for work on sure actions, together with humanitarian tasks.
A senior US administration official mentioned the Taliban must take motion to stop Afghanistan’s economic system from contracting additional. “What we can attempt to do, what we’re going to work to do, is to mitigate the humanitarian crisis by getting resources to the Afghan people, and these general licenses will allow us to allow organisations that are doing this work to do exactly that,” the official advised reporters.

The high Republican on the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee criticised the choice by Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration. The exemption “could result in using American taxpayer funds to reward, legitimise and enable the same Taliban that took power by force and has shown no interest in abiding by international norms,” Representative Michael McCaul mentioned in a press release.
Afghanistan’s financial disaster accelerated after the Taliban seized energy in August, as the previous Western-backed authorities collapsed and the final US troops withdrew. The United States and different donors reduce monetary help, and greater than $9 billion in Afghanistan’s laborious foreign money property had been frozen.

The United Nations says practically 23 million individuals – about 55% of the inhabitants – are dealing with excessive ranges of starvation, with practically 9 million vulnerable to famine as winter takes maintain. “We will continue to support efforts by our partners to scale up assistance and deliver necessary relief during this moment of particular need,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken mentioned in a press release.
In a separate bid to handle the disaster, the UN Security Council handed a decision exempting donors, support teams and monetary establishments concerned in humanitarian help from UN asset freezes on leaders of the Taliban and related entities. The exemption is “solely for the provision of humanitarian assistance and other activities that support basic human needs in Afghanistan which the council will review in one year,” Jeffrey DeLaurentis, a senior adviser to the US mission to the United Nations, mentioned in urging approval of the measure.