Afghan PM: We Will Not Interfere In Other Countries' Internal Affairs
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The head of the Afghan government, Mohammad Hassan Akhund, confirms in a speech that his country "wants to establish good economic relations" with all other countries.
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Mohammad Hassan Akhund, head of the Taliban government
Mohammad Hassan Akhund, head of the Taliban government and one of the founders of the movement, affirmed on Saturday that his government "will not interfere" in the internal affairs of other countries and that the regime wants peaceful relations with the rest of the world, appealing to international humanitarian organizations to continue providing their aid to war-weary Afghanistan.
Afghan state television broadcast a recorded speech of Akhund, his first since the Taliban seized power last August , and came before a meeting of the United States and the Taliban scheduled for next week in Doha.
In his speech, which lasted for about 30 minutes, amid criticism of his silence since the movement’s control despite the challenges the country is facing, Akhund said: "We assure all the countries that we will not interfere in their internal affairs and we want to have good economic relations with them."
He added: "We are drowned in our problems and we are trying to get the strength to bring our people out of miseries and hardships with God's help."
The Taliban came to power on August 15, after the hasty and chaotic withdrawal of the US army and the overthrow of the previous Washington-backed government.
Akhundn is a Taliban veteran. He was a close aide and political advisor to Mullah Omar, the movement's founder and first leader. He also served as the foreign minister and deputy prime minister in the movement's previous regime between 1996 and 2001.
The UN Security Council has previously included Akhund on the sanctions list for the "acts and activities" of the Taliban.
Plea for help
Akhund's government is facing a series of challenges, most notably reviving the country's collapsed economy after the suspension of international aid, which made up 75% of the country's budget under previous governments.
Since the Taliban seized power, inflation has risen dramatically, as has unemployment among Afghans, amid the collapse of the banking system.
The crisis worsened after Washington froze about $10 billion of the assets of the Afghan Central Bank, and the decline intensified with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund stopping their funding to Afghanistan.
United Nations aid agencies have warned of a major humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, where more than half of its 38 million people are expected to face starvation this winter.
The rapidly deteriorating situation forced Afghans to sell everything they owned to buy food and other necessities, as the value of the local currency collapsed and prices skyrocketed.
In his speech, Akhund said, "We ask all the international charity organisations to not withhold their aid and to help our exhausted nation... so that the problems of the people could be solved," Hassan said in his speech, insisting that the problems facing the country were the result of the previous governments.
Currently standing as one of the poorest economies in the world, the Afghan economy has been undermined by 40 years of war and recent droughts.
The Taliban will again demand in Doha the lifting of sanctions and the resumption of international aid to prevent the majority of Afghans from falling into poverty and starvation .
The US-Taliban talks in Doha aim to deal with several issues, such as confronting the threats of al-Qaeda and ISIS, as well as solving the problem of stopping humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.
Talks will also focus on ways to provide safe passage out of Afghanistan for American and Afghan citizens who worked with Washington during the 20-year war.
