Taliban government prime minister defends policy in Afghanistan in first speech

Self-proclaimed Prime Minister of Afghanistan Mullah Mohammed Hassan Akhund has called on Afghans to show gratitude for the leadership of the Taliban. The Taliban prime minister, who is not recognized by the international community, said in a news conference Saturday night that the new policy was not the cause of the economic downturn, famine and unemployment in the country. He says the blame lies with the previous government. This is reported by international news agencies. It was the prime minister’s first speech since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan three months ago.

The Taliban would now do everything they can to repair the economic crisis and the corruption of the previous government. The cessation of international aid to the government since the takeover and the blocking of billions of dollars in Afghan bank deposits abroad is hampering this, the prime minister said. Akhund therefore wants about $9 billion in frozen bank assets abroad to be released.

Also read: Aid to Afghanistan is currently on hold – and that affects Afghan citizens

A week after the takeover at the end of August, the World Bank announced that it would freeze assets from an international fund where the former government in Afghanistan could make applications to pay for health care, for example. The World Bank did this because of “serious concerns” about “the country’s development prospects, especially for women.” Other donors also frozen assets. The United Nations warned in October for a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. For example, according to the UN, more and more people in the country are at risk of starvation.

Mullah Akhund responded on Saturday to accusations of violations of women’s rights that the Taliban “saved the dignity of women”. The Taliban have not completely excluded women from the public sphere as they did during the previous rule in the late 1990s. However, female government employees are no longer welcome at their jobs and girls are no longer allowed to go to secondary school.