The Taliban’s apparent sheltering of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, who was killed last weekend in a US drone strike in Kabul, dealt a blow to an already politically fraught attempt to free up $3.5 billion in frozen bank funds to alleviate poverty and famine in Afghanistan.
Since the Taliban took over Kabul in mid-August 2021, the senior Taliban leadership, seeking international recognition, has been trying to convince the West that it no longer supports any terrorist groups in Afghanistan.
Two top decisions announced in Washington, DC and Islamabad, respectively, would ease the Afghanistan government’s financial crunch and supply of ceme.