Taliban urges Muslim nations to take lead in recognising Afghan government

The Taliban's prime minister has called on Muslim nations to be the first to officially recognise its government as aid-dependent Afghanistan faces economic collapse.

"I call on Muslim countries to take the lead and recognise us officially. Then I hope we will be able to develop quickly," Mohammad Hassan Akhund told a conference in Kabul on Wednesday.

"We don't want it for the officials. We want it for our public," he said, adding that the Taliban had fulfilled all necessary conditions by restoring peace and security.

Akhund and other Taliban administration officials made an appeal at the news conference, also attended by United Nations officials, for a loosening of restrictions on money into the country, blaming its growing economic crisis on the freezing of funds.

"Short-term aid is not the solution; we must try to find a way to solve problems fundamentally," he said.

Economic collapse?

The UN Secretary General's Special Representative for Afghanistan Deborah Lyons also spoke at the event, saying Afghanistan's economic crisis was a serious problem that needed to be addressed by all countries.

"The United Nations is working to revitalise Afghanistan's economy and fundamentally address Afghanistan's economic problems," she said.

Afghanistan's acting foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, said the Taliban administration was seeking economic relations with the international community.

"Humanitarian aid is the short-term solution to economic problems; but what is needed to solve problems in the long run is the implementation of infrastructure projects," he said.

At the same time, Taliban Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi told Wednesday's conference that the government "would not sacrifice the independence of the country's economy by bending to the conditions of donors".

READ MORE: Afghanistan seeks humanitarian aid without 'political bias'

Assets in billions frozen

No country has yet recognised the Taliban, which took over Afghanistan in August, with most watching to see how the hardline Islamists — notorious for human rights abuses during their first stint in power — restrict freedoms.

Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were the only nations to recognise the first Taliban government after they came to power in 1996 following a civil war.

Western nations led by the United States have frozen billions of dollars worth of Afghan banking assets and cut off development funding that once formed the backbone of Afghanistan's economy.

With poverty deepening and a drought devastating farming in many areas, the United Nations has warned that half the 38 million population faces food shortages. 

And there are growing calls from rights groups and aid organisations for the West to release more funds — particularly in the middle of a harsh winter.

READ MORE: Afghanistan is not a graveyard of empires, but a symbol of Western hubris