The Taliban wants to increase Afghan exports to save the economy | abroad

“The only way to achieve economic self-sufficiency is to boost local products and export them abroad,” Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, the Taliban’s deputy foreign minister told a meeting in Kabul. His comments point to a shift in the country where foreign aid makes up more than 40 percent of the economy. According to Stanikzai, international humanitarian aid alone cannot solve Afghanistan’s economic problems or prevent the country from sliding further into poverty.

The Taliban’s attempt to achieve self-sufficiency is also due to the fact that Afghanistan has lost access to its foreign reserves of about $9 billion (€7.95 billion). The United States froze these reserves after the regime took power in August. In 2020, Afghanistan imported most of its basic goods, worth $9 billion. The exports amounted to only about 800 million dollars and consisted of agricultural products such as pine nuts and dried fruits, mainly to China, Pakistan and Iran.

Once again, Stanikzai blamed the United States for the chaos in the country and called on Americans to release foreign money. As part of a new measure to evade the Taliban, the United States plans to provide assistance directly to the Afghan people.

Since taking power, the Taliban have done so Many restrictions placed on women and girls, despite previous promises that the system would be less stringent than it was in its first reign between 1996 and 2001. According to Nizar Muhammad Irfan, a spokesman for the Ministry of Education, the regime wants to end restrictions on the education of teenage girls. Next year. The Taliban hope they can get more foreign aid again.