‘China our most important partner’
Taliban claim China to maintain embassy in Kabul, hail new Silk Road. US has no plans to release billions in Afghan assets, Treasury says.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has told an Italian newspaper that the group will rely primarily on financing from China following the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan and its takeover of the country.
In his interview published by La Repubblica on Thursday, Mujahid said the Taliban will fight for an economic comeback with the help of China.
The Taliban seized control of Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, on August 15 as the country's Western-backed government melted away, bringing an end to 20 years of war amid fears of an economic collapse and widespread hunger.
Following the chaotic departure of foreign troops from Kabul airport in recent weeks, Western states have severely restricted their aid payments to Afghanistan.
"China is our most important partner and represents a fundamental and extraordinary opportunity for us, because it is ready to invest and rebuild our country," the Taliban spokesperson was quoted as saying in the interview.
He said the New Silk Road – an infrastructure initiative with which China wants to increase its global influence by opening up trade routes – was held in high regard by the Taliban.
There are "rich copper mines in the country, which, thanks to the Chinese, can be put back into operation and modernised. In addition, China is our pass to markets all over the world."
Another Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen announced that China promised to keep its embassy in Afghanistan open and to increase humanitarian aid to the war-ravaged country.
Abdul Salam Hanafi, a senior Taliban official in the group's political office in Doha, Qatar, "held a phone conversation with Wu Jianghao, deputy foreign minister of the People's Republic of China," Suhail Shaheen wrote on social media.
China also issued a statement saying that it "affirms" its ties with Afghanistan and that it wishes Afghans well as they rebuild their country.
Afghanistan desperately needs money, and the Taliban is unlikely to get swift access to the roughly $10bn in assets here mostly held abroad by the Afghan central bank.
The Biden administration has no plans to release billions in Afghan gold, investments and foreign currency reserves parked in the United States that it froze after the Taliban's takeover, despite pressure from humanitarian groups and others who say the cost may be the collapse of Afghanistan's economy.
The funds are a key instrument for the West to pressure the Taliban to respect women's rights and the rule of law as the former insurgents have promised.
Any unfreezing of these assets may be months away, financial experts said.
Earlier this week, UN chief Antonio Guterres warned of a looming "humanitarian catastrophe" in Afghanistan and urged countries to provide emergency funding as severe drought and war have forced thousands of families to flee their homes.
Guterres expressed his "grave concern at the deepening humanitarian and economic crisis in the country", adding that basic services threatened to collapse "completely".
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