WASHINGTON — The United States does not support the Taliban and provides no funding to the group, Matthew Miller, the State Department spokesman, reiterated during a press briefing on Tuesday.
“So, first of all, no, we do not support the Taliban,” Miller said in response to a question. “As Vedant made clear last week, as I have made clear in previous briefings, we do not provide any funding to the Taliban. That is absolutely false.”
Miller elaborated on a recent United Nations report addressing the treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan and the so-called moral oversight enforced by the Taliban. “The unpredictable and arbitrary enforcement of the Taliban’s so-called morality code undermines the human rights of all Afghans,” he stated.
He emphasized that the United States continues to monitor the Taliban’s treatment of Afghan citizens closely, particularly the treatment of women and girls. “We continue to monitor closely the Taliban’s treatment of the people of Afghanistan, especially their treatment of Afghan women and girls,” he said.
The U.S. expects the Taliban “to honor their assurances to the Afghan people and the international community in this regard,” Miller added. “As we have said in public and private to the Taliban’s representatives, their relationship with the international community depends entirely on their actions.”
This statement comes as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged at a NATO anniversary ceremony on Tuesday that the United States will continue to rally global pressure on the Taliban to reverse their repressive policies against women and girls in Afghanistan.
