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The Afghan Taliban approved its first budget since regaining control of the country last August, while the United Nations announced its readiness to support and cooperate with the movement.
And the French Press Agency quoted the Ministry of Finance as saying that this budget does not include any international aid and covers the first 3 months of 2022.
“For the first time in two decades, we have prepared a budget that is not based on international assistance, which is a great achievement in our eyes,” ministry spokesman Ahmed Wali Haqmal told AFP.
Help and decisions
Following the movement’s accession to power, international donors suspended the huge aid that made up 80% of the Afghan budget.
The budget approved on Tuesday in the amount of 53.9 billion Afghani (about $516 million) covers only the first quarter of 2022, and is devoted almost entirely to government expenditures.
The Taliban decided to adopt the solar calendar for its fiscal year, which begins on March 21 next. The next budget, which is under preparation, will be presented after this date, according to Haqmal.
The bulk of the budget (49.2 billion Afghanis) was allocated to “daily government expenditures”, such as salaries, according to a ministry spokesman.
budget and crisis
All government employees who resumed work after August 15 will “receive a wage,” as well as the movement’s fighters who have since joined the security forces, Haqmal said.
In light of the severe liquidity crisis caused by the suspension of international aid, the majority of government employees have not received their salaries for months.
It will also pay the salaries of women working in this field – most of whom have not yet returned to work – according to Haqmal, who said, “They have not been dismissed from service, and we consider that they have returned to work.”
“The entire budget is financed from our own resources”, such as “customs and taxes on revenue and ministries’ revenues,” the ministry’s spokesman explained.
The United States froze $9.5 billion in reserves from the Afghan Central Bank, an amount equivalent to half of the country’s gross domestic product in 2020.
The Taliban demands Washington to release funds from the freeze to revive the economy and combat famine, which threatens nearly 55 percent of the population, according to United Nations data, or about 23 million Afghans.
cooperation and support
On Thursday, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, announced the readiness of the United Nations to cooperate with the Taliban movement in Afghanistan and to provide them with support.
This came in statements made by Guterres to reporters at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
Guterres said that the United Nations is ready to cooperate and support the Afghan authorities (the Taliban), speaking of the need to make every effort to make government institutions inclusive where all Afghans feel represented, thus enhancing security and confronting terrorism.
And in mid-August 2021, the Taliban movement took control of Afghanistan completely, paralleling a final stage of a US military withdrawal from the country that was completed at the end of the same month.
The countries of the world are still reluctant to recognize the rule of the Taliban, and link this to the behavior of the movement, especially respect for human rights, and not to allow Afghanistan to be used as a haven for terrorists.
joint body
On Wednesday, the Taliban proposed creating a joint body comprising Taliban officials and international representatives to help coordinate billions of dollars in aid.
It is not yet clear whether the United Nations and foreign governments would support such an agreement, as it would allow the Taliban to gain greater access to international funding, even though some of its leaders are subject to US sanctions.
“The aim of this committee is to coordinate at a higher level to facilitate humanitarian aid from the international community and distribute aid to those in need,” Acting Deputy Prime Minister Abdus Salam Hanafi said at a press conference in Kabul, which was also attended by Ramiz Al Akbarov, a UN envoy.
“We ask the international communities to use the government’s capabilities to achieve aid-related goals,” he added.
Because of warnings that millions may starve as the economic crisis intensifies, foreign governments are ramping up humanitarian aid but are careful to keep aid out of the Taliban government’s interference.
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