KABUL, Afghanistan — Following renewed US efforts to halt humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, Mohammad Naeem Wardak, the Taliban’s deputy foreign minister for finance and administration, has claimed that Afghanistan is entitled to get compensation from the United States and its allies for the two-decade war.
Wardak made the remarks on Thursday in a post on the social platform X. Citing what he claimed were international legal principles, Wardak argued that Afghanistan “has the right to seek compensation” for damages caused by what he described as a “wrongful 20-year occupation and imposed wars by the United States and the international community.”
“It is surprising,” he added, “that some countries now make even humanitarian aid conditional on political requirements and repeatedly reconsider continuing their support.”
Wardak’s comments come in response to growing pressure within the US Congress to cut financial assistance linked to Afghanistan. On Tuesday, the House Foreign Affairs Committee considered a bill that would formally prohibit US taxpayer funds from reaching the Taliban.
“US taxpayer dollars should never end up in the hands of the Taliban,” said Representative Brian Mast, the committee’s chair, during the hearing. “The Taliban are terrorists, and under no circumstances should US funding be accessible to them.”
The proposed legislation would require the US State Department to develop and implement a strategy to discourage other governments and non-governmental organizations from providing financial or material support to the Taliban.
Mast emphasized that, in the absence of formal diplomatic ties and with no functioning US embassy in Afghanistan, Washington must take extra precautions to ensure that aid does not indirectly benefit the Taliban, who remain under US terrorism sanctions.
“This strategy would also involve using US foreign aid to persuade countries and organizations to withhold support from the Taliban,” Mast said. “We don’t want American tax dollars, in any form, reaching the Taliban.”
The debate reflects ongoing tensions over how to address humanitarian needs in Afghanistan without empowering the Taliban leadership, which remains unrecognized by any major Western government.
