Imran Khan blames US for deteriorating situation in Afghanistan

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has blamed the United States for creating a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan that is affecting millions of people and allowing it to worsen.

"A man-made crisis is being created despite knowing that it can be averted if (Afghanistan's) accounts (in the US) are unfrozen and liquidity is put into their banking system," the Prime Minister said, Dawn newspaper reported.

The Prime Minister made these remarks at a ceremony held at Foreign Office to celebrate the successful holding of the extraordinary session of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation's (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers on Tuesday.

On the other hand, amid the deteriorating economic situation in Afghanistan, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday (local time) said that Washington is looking intensely at ways to put more liquidity into the Afghan economy so as to provide money to the people of the cash-strapped nation.

"We are looking intensely at ways to put more liquidity into the Afghan economy to get more money into people's pockets. And doing that, with international institutions, with other countries and partners, trying to put in place the right mechanisms to do that in a way that doesn't directly benefit the Taliban but does go directly to the people," Blinken said during a press briefing.

He further stated that Afghanistan is facing a difficult humanitarian situation.

"We're very conscious of the fact that there is an incredibly difficult humanitarian situation right now, all it could get worse as winter sets in, and so that's an area of intense focus for us, working closely with allies and partners," Blinken said.

US Secretary of State said, "I am focused right now on the situation in Afghanistan, including the humanitarian situation, we continue to be the largest single providing humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan."

The Taliban took over control of Kabul on August 15 and following this the country has been battered by deepening economic, humanitarian and security crises.

A combination of a suspension of foreign aid, the freezing of Afghan government assets, and international sanctions on the Taliban have plunged a country, already suffering from high poverty levels, into a full-blown economic crisis.

The international community, from governments to non-governmental organizations, has been providing various assistance to the Afghan people.

Despite a general amnesty by the Taliban, announced in August, mutiple reports say that more than 100 killings of former Afghan national security forces and others associated with the former Government have taken place.

At least 72 killings were attributed to the Taliban, and in several cases, the bodies were publicly displayed, UN News reported.

According to the UN, women and girls face great uncertainty when it comes to respecting their rights to education, livelihoods and participation. Some 4.2 million young Afghans are already out of school, the majority of them are girls.

(ANI)

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