Afghanistan is ready for development-focused assistance, the Taliban’s foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, told the World Food Program’s newly appointed country director during a meeting in Kabul, according to a statement released by the Taliban’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban’s top diplomat, met with John Aylieff, WFP’s new representative in Afghanistan, and said that the “time is now right” to transition from emergency aid to long-term development projects. He also called for greater attention to infrastructure and reconstruction, asserting that many of the country’s major challenges have been resolved.
“The current situation presents a suitable opportunity for implementing development programs,” Muttaqi said, according to the Taliban’s statement. He praised WFP’s humanitarian efforts and urged the organization to expand its mandate beyond emergency relief.
The Taliban said Aylieff acknowledged improvements in Afghanistan’s overall security environment and indicated that WFP operations could expand under current conditions. He reportedly expressed a commitment to increase donor engagement in support of both humanitarian and development assistance.
The meeting also focused on improving aid delivery and coordination across Afghanistan, with both sides pledging to collaborate more closely to address ongoing humanitarian needs.
This comes at a time when Taliban have imposed increasing restrictions on aid agencies’ operations in Afghanistan, including the ban on women employees in non-governmental organizations. UN and other organizations have said that such restrictions have hampered their activities in Afghanistan.
