Broke-in-arms: Now bankrupt Islamabad ‘warns’ of Kabul’s economic collapse!

Virendra Pandit

New Delhi: At least one thing about Pakistan is certain: it never ceases to amuse and surprise others! Even if it means the pot calling the kettle black!!

Now, Islamabad, itself in a hand-to-mouth existence and facing an acute financial crisis for a variety of reasons, has warned Kabul about a potential economic collapse. This is when its ministers, including ‘selected’ Prime Minister Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi, have been shuttling between Beijing and Riyadh every few weeks, to bail itself out of potential economic collapse.

Ignoring Islamabad’s own perilous situation, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Thursday that Afghanistan is “at the brink of economic collapse” and the international community must urgently resume funding and provide humanitarian help.

He said this in the presence of diplomats from China and Russia and the Taliban representatives during a meeting in Islamabad. Thomas West, the new US Special Envoy for Afghanistan, was also present.

At the opening of the event—known as the so-called “Troika Plus”, denoting China, Russia, and the US, besides the Taliban—Qureshi said: “Today, Afghanistan stands at the brink of economic collapse,” and added that any further downward slide would “severely limit” the new Taliban government’s ability to run the country.

The delegates also met with Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, the media reported.

In a joint statement after the meeting, they said the four nations had agreed to continue “practical engagement with the Taliban to encourage the implementation of moderate and prudent policies that can help achieve a stable and prosperous Afghanistan as soon as possible.”

They also urged the Islamabad-controlled Taliban to create an inclusive government and provide equal rights and opportunities for women and girls to take part in all aspects of society.

Qureshi said it was “imperative for the international community to buttress provision of humanitarian help urgently.”

The steps to achieve these ends included enabling Afghanistan to access funds frozen by Western donors, to the tune of USD 10 billion, since the Taliban took control of the country in August.

Resuming the flow of funding “will dovetail into our efforts to regenerate economic activities and move the Afghan economy towards stability and sustainability,” Qureshi said.

Doing so would also benefit Western countries, he told the state media later.

“If you think that you are far, Europe is safe and those areas you imagine will not be affected by terrorism, don’t forget the history,” he warned the West. “We have learned from the history and we don’t want to repeat those mistakes made in the past.”

Taliban FM Muttaqi, in an audio message to Afghan media, said the meeting “recognized” efforts the new government was making to stabilize the terror-infested country.

“They all are willing towards this cause and the efforts that are underway in Afghanistan to make peace, eradicating crimes, and betterment of the Afghan government with each passing day,” he said.

“All these were mentioned time and again by the group members during the meeting, and to provide support to these causes.”

The United Nations has repeatedly warned that Afghanistan is on the brink of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with more than half the country’s population facing “acute” food shortages and winter forcing millions to choose between emigration and starvation.

The latest meeting on Afghanistan outside Afghanistan was marked by Thomas West’s first trip to the region since taking over from American-Afghan diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad, who spearheaded talks that led to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan recently.

The US State Department said this week that the West plans to visit Russia and India as well. “Together with our partners, he will continue to make clear the expectations that we have of the Taliban and of any future Afghanistan government,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price told a media briefing.

West, who was in Brussels earlier this week to brief NATO on US engagement with the Taliban, told reporters the Islamist extremists have “very clearly” voiced their desire to see aid resumed, normalize international relations, and achieve sanctions relief.

He also called for unity from allies on those issues, noting that Washington “can deliver none of these things on our own”.