3 yıl önce

Taliban calls tribal leaders assembly on cash-strapped Afghan economy

Over 100 members of a jirga gathered at the Foreign Office building in Kabul to talk with the Taliban, including Anas Haqqani.

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In this August 7, 2020 file photo, thousands of politicians and officials from across Afghanistan attend a grand assembly, known as the Loya Jirga, in Kabul, Afghanistan.

The Taliban has called a traditional jirga or gathering of tribal and community elders on the economic and security situation in war-torn and cash-strapped Afghanistan.

The jirga was convened at the Foreign Office building in the capital Kabul on Wednesday.

Over a hundred members of the assembly listened to speakers including Anas Haqqani, a member of the Taliban political office in Qatar and son of Jalaluddin Haqqani, founder of the Haqqani network's which is designated by the US as a terror group.

In his speech, Arsala Kharoti of the Kharoti tribe in Paktika province said, "The time has come to be united, to remove differences, and to offer social justice to the Afghans."

He cited political turmoil in Afghanistan in 1978 and the former Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan in the following years as examples of the Afghan nation's hardships during the last 43 years.

According to another speaker, Sheikh Khalid, the US has split the society in the last 20 years, with a rich-poor division visible.

Taliban's supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada has tasked top Haqqani network leader Khalilur Rehman Haqqani with meeting people from various walks of life and easing security and economic tensions in the country.

Khalilur Rehman is the brother of Jalaluddin and has been suspected of plotting some of the deadliest attacks on foreign forces with a $5 million US bounty for information leading to his arrest.

Challenges facing the Taliban discussed

A tribal elder, Ehsanullah Amin Munawar, said he is attending the jirga to assist the Taliban in addressing challenging issues such as security and economics and help them through social networking.

He said that when there is peace, there will be no terrorism or narcotics.

“These are the three requirements I discussed with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, and they told me that they would meet them,” he added.

Any country with solid security and no corruption succeeds, which the Taliban will ensure, so if these concerns are fixed, he is confident that the international community will assist Afghanistan, Munawar argued.