US pauses Afghan aid, refugee plan

ISLAMABAD:

Afghanistan may no longer be a priority for the United States but actions taken by President Donald Trump in the first few days in White House suggested that the Taliban government would be under the American scanner.

The Trump Administration has adopted a tough policy towards the Taliban government as it had taken two major decisions that have directly affected the country.

Within minutes of taking oath as 47th president of the United States, Trump issued a raft of executive orders. Those orders also included a decree that immediately halted the US foreign assistance and the Afghanistan refugee plan.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio conveyed to all US missions through a diplomatic cable to suspend all foreign assistance till the review to ascertain whether the funding was aligned with Trump’s foreign policy agenda and the US interests.

The Trump camp has long questioned dolling out taxpayers money to countries, which sometime work contrary to the US interests. Afghanistan was the major beneficiary of the aid as the US pumped at least $3 billion to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan since August 2021 under humanitarian assistance.

The US aid played a critical role in keeping Afghanistan’s economy afloat. But since the latest Trump move, Afghanistan’s currency Afghani lost value against the US dollar, triggering inflation.

President Trump warned the Taliban to return the US weapons before any aid going through. The other move that may not have direct bearing on the Taliban government but thousands of Afghans, who worked for the US military and their contractors during their campaign in Afghanistan.

They were promised resettlement in the US as part of the Biden administration’s policy. However, that plan was also put on hold. At least 40,000 Afghans were affected by the move. Approximately, 25,000 are currently in Pakistan, waiting for over three years to go to the US.

Meanwhile, in another sign of hard-line stance towards Afghan rulers, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday the US may place a “very big bounty” on the top leaders of the Taliban, adding that he was hearing that the Taliban held more American hostages than previously reported.

“Just hearing the Taliban is holding more American hostages than has been reported,” Rubio said in a post on social media platform X. “If this is true, we will have to immediately place a VERY BIG bounty on their top leaders, maybe even bigger than the one we had on Bin Laden,” he added.

The post did not give further details or specify the number of Americans held by the Taliban. Authorities in Kabul said in the past week that the United States freed an Afghan convicted by an American court on charges of drug smuggling and extremism in exchange for two US citizens held in Afghanistan.

Afghan officials said on Tuesday the man, Khan Mohammad, had landed in Kabul after being released. A spokesman for the Taliban administration confirmed that two Americans were released in the exchange.

Trump’s executive order to pause admissions for at least 90 days starting from January 27 has blocked around 10,000 Afghans approved for entry from starting new lives in the United States, according to non-profit #AfghanEvac.

Trump committed to the pullout from Afghanistan in his first term but the process was overseen by his successor president Joe Biden. A special visa programme for Afghans who were employed by or on behalf of the United States remains active.

The Taliban government has announced an amnesty and encouraged those who fled to return to rebuild the country. However, Moniza Kakar, a lawyer who works with Afghan refugees in Pakistan, said some women told her they “prefer suicide than going back to Afghanistan”.

Earlier in 2022, a report by the US Defence Department revealed that $7 billion worth of military equipment was left behind following the military withdrawal. Those included aircraft, air-to-ground munitions, weapons communications equipment, and other materials, later seized by the Taliban.

Trump had said at a rally on the eve of his oath-taking, that the US wanted its military equipment back from the Taliban. “If we’re going to pay billions of dollars a year, tell them we’re not going to give them the money unless they give back our military equipment,” he said

(WITH INPUT FROM AFP)