Islamabad The 22nd of August, : Pakistani officials have acknowledged that the murder of Al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri in Kabul was a significant setback for the Afghan Taliban’s efforts to establish legitimacy According to sources.The sources predicted difficult future challenges for the interim Afghan government, as the US administration was not likely to release the funds frozen, The Express Tribune reported.
“This is a worrying situation for Pakistan as well,” said one official who has dealt with the issue.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity the official said to The Express Tribune that the inaccessibility of access to billions of dollars of frozen assets of the Afghan government could exacerbate the economic problems of the war-ravaged country.
Furthermore, the official stated that this would mean Afghans would heavily rely on Pakistan.
The official also said that the economy of Pakistan was shattered by one crisis after another, and that a new economic catastrophe in the country’s neighbor could be bad news for Islamabad, The Express Tribune reported.
There was a report that one of the reasons why Pakistan’s currency experienced an increase in the last few weeks was because there was trafficking of dollars into Afghanistan.
This was the reason of this that Pakistan was insisting on the transfer of funds to the Afghan government the official explained.
“This will not have helped examine the Afghan economy, but it would have eased the pressure on the rate of exchange,” the official added.
However, some observers believed that merely providing humanitarian aid is not enough since the Afghan government desperately requires foreign reserves to lift the country out of its current crisis.
It wasn’t only Zawahiri’s murder, but the inability of the Afghan Taliban to permit girls their education also proved to be another obstacle that prevented the US and the West from providing financial aid.
A Pakistani official claimed there were differences inside the Taliban ranks.
The group currently comprised of the government recognizes the value of financial aid and will accommodate the concerns of the West.However the top leadership in Kandahar is not ready to change their ways because of the expectations of the international community the official said, Express Tribune reported.
Pakistan is worried that if it fails to meet the demands of the international community there won’t be any acknowledgement of the Afghan Taliban’s rule.
“This scenario is only going to make things worse.No recognition means no financial assistance.Afghanistan is likely to remain unstable.
It is the last thing we would like,” the official cautioned.
Another indicator of tough future for the Afghan Taliban was the inability of the UN Security Council to extend the travel exemption to the Taliban’s leaders.
The UN waiver that allows 13 Afghan Taliban officials to travel overseas expired on Friday, after China and Russia requested an extension.
However the US and Western nations have requested a shortened list of Taliban officials that can travel to protest their reversal of commitment to girls’ education as well as their inability to establish an inclusive government, as it had previously promised.
In the resolution passed in 2011 by the UN Security Council resolution, 135 Taliban officials were subjected sanctions which included asset freezes as well as travel bans.
However thirteen of those were granted exempted of the travel ban that allowed them to meet with officials from other countries overseas to discuss peace negotiations, Express Tribune reported.
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