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The Taliban on Friday welcomed the United States's efforts to facilitate the flow of humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, local media reported.
This comes as the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Wednesday (local time) issued three General Licenses to facilitate the continued flow of humanitarian assistance and other support for the Afghan people. The Islamic Emirate Deputy Spokesperson, Bilal Karimi, said Afghanistan has witnessed a 20-year war, so it needs more international support, Tolo News reported. "Afghan people passed through long wars, and drought is another problem ahead of Afghanistan, so we appreciate such a decision," said Karimi. "The issuance of the three licenses by the US will prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan and show that they (the US) are worried about the situation in the country; besides this, the decision shows their engagement with the Islamic Emirate," Tolo News quoted Shaker Yaqoobi, a university professor as saying. According to the White House statement, General License 17 authorizes all transactions and activities involving the Taliban or the Haqqani Network that are for the conduct of the official business of the United States Government by employees, grantees, or contractors thereof, subject to certain conditions. General License 18 authorizes all transactions and activities involving the Taliban or the Haqqani Network that are for the conduct of the official business of certain international organizations and other international entities by employees, grantees, or contractors thereof, subject to certain conditions, said the statement. The statement further said General License 19 authorizes all transactions and activities involving the Taliban or the Haqqani Network, that are ordinarily incident and necessary to the following activities by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), subject to certain conditions: humanitarian projects to meet basic human needs; activities to support rule of law, citizen participation, government accountability and transparency, human rights and fundamental freedoms, access to information, and civil society development projects; education; non-commercial development projects directly benefitting the Afghan people; and environmental and natural resource protection. (ANI)
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