The Biden administration has allegedly agreed to provide humanitarian aid to Afghanistan as conditions in the country worsen under Taliban-rule.
“The U.S. has agreed to provide humanitarian aid to a desperately poor Afghanistan on the brink of an economic disaster, while refusing to give political recognition to the country’s new Taliban rulers,” The Associated Press reported. “The statement came at the end of the first direct talks between the former foes since the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops at the end of August.”
State Department Spokesman Ned Price said in a statement that 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.”
“The two sides also discussed the United States’ provision of robust humanitarian assistance, directly to the Afghan people,” the statement added. “The discussions were candid and professional with the U.S. delegation reiterating that the Taliban will be judged on its actions, not only its words.”
The news comes after the Taliban said last week that it would not work with the U.S. to combat ISIS, which was responsible for murdering 13 U.S. soldiers during a suicide bombing in August.
The AP reported:
Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen told The Associated Press there would be no cooperation with Washington on containing the increasingly active Islamic State group in Afghanistan. IS has taken responsibility for a number of recent attacks, including a suicide bombing Friday that killed 46 minority Shiite Muslims and wounded dozens as they prayed in a mosque in the northern city of Kunduz.
“We are able to tackle Daesh independently,” Shaheen said, when asked whether the Taliban would work with the U.S. to contain the Islamic State affiliate. He used an Arabic acronym for IS.
The Taliban’s claim that it will work to combat ISIS comes after it released thousands of terrorists from Bagram prison immediately after the U.S. handed over the area to the Taliban following Democrat President Joe Biden’s pullout.
“Senior Indian intelligence sources familiar with the case have told Firstpost that he was handed over to the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency by the Research and Analysis Wing in September 2017,” Firstpost, an Indian news organization, first reported. “However, the jihadist walked free on 15 August along with thousands of other dangerous terrorists held in the high-security prison, taking advantage of the chaos that ensued in the aftermath of the United State’s hurried exit and the Taliban’s swift takeover of the entire country.”
The report described the terrorist as a former student of an engineering college in India who had been arrested for allegedly staging suicide bombings in New Delhi. The terrorist used his studies as his cover for entering the country.
“America’s disorganized retreat from Afghanistan has led to hundreds of highly-competent and highly-committed terrorists being set free to rejoin the Islamic State, al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups,” an Indian intelligence officer, who allegedly worked on the case involving this specific terrorist, told the publication. “Literally a decade’s work on counter-terrorism has been undone by the US’ failure to secure key prisoners in Bagram.”