US, Russia, China and Pakistan meet to discuss Afghanistan as humanitarian crisis deepens

The representatives of these 4 nations -- recognized as the prolonged troika -- additionally "met with senior Taliban representatives on the sidelines" of that assembly in Islamabad, in accordance to a 15-point joint assertion launched by Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The joint assertion "(a)cknowledged international humanitarian actors' concerns regarding the country's serious liquidity challenges and committed to continue focusing on measures to ease access to legitimate banking services."The Taliban doesn't have entry to the Afghan central financial institution's billions of {dollars} in reserves, the majority of which have been frozen within the US.The US, Russia, China and Pakistan known as on the Taliban to permit unhindered humanitarian entry and "(a)greed to continue practical engagement with the Taliban to encourage the implementation of moderate and prudent policies that can help achieve a stable and prosperous Afghanistan as soon as possible," in accordance to the joint assertion.The US has engaged with however has not acknowledged the interim Taliban authorities, which got here to energy following the capitulation of former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and after seizing a lot of Afghanistan in a swift army marketing campaign.A high-level US interagency delegation met with Taliban representatives for a number of days of conferences in Doha final month. The US particular consultant, talking to reporters from Brussels earlier this week, mentioned that the US was making ready for one more interagency assembly with the Taliban.The Taliban's interim authorities -- all male and comprised of members of the Taliban and Haqqani community -- has imposed harsh societal restrictions, notably on girls.The joint assertion "(c)alled on the Taliban to work with fellow Afghans to take steps to form an inclusive and representative government that respects the rights of all Afghans and provides for the equal rights of women and girls to participate in all aspects of Afghan society."The 4 nations "(w)elcomed the Taliban's continued commitment to allow for the safe passage of all who wish to travel to and from Afghanistan and encouraged rapid progress, with the onset of winter, on arrangements to establish airports countrywide that can accept commercial air traffic, which are essential to enable the uninterrupted flow of humanitarian assistance."In the briefing with reporters, West, the US particular consultant, mentioned that "the Taliban have delivered by and large on their commitment to us, to allow Afghans whom we owe a special commitment and American citizen and LPRs out of the country, over the past several weeks in particular."West mentioned the "real challenge" to secure passage is "potentially logistical, especially as we head into the winter months," noting that the Kabul airport's capability to function within the winter "is in question."The prolonged troika "(c)ondemned in the strongest terms the recent terrorist attacks in Afghanistan and called on the Taliban to cut ties with all international terrorist groups, dismantle and eliminate them in a decisive manner, and to deny space to any terrorist organization operating inside the country."West informed reporters this week that the US is "worried about the uptick in ISIS-K attacks" and desires the Taliban to succeed towards them."We want the Taliban to succeed against ISIS-K. I think they have a very vigorous effort underway against that group," he mentioned. "We condemn the innocent loss of Afghan lives that have taken place in recent weeks at the hands of vicious ISIS-K attacks across the country.""When it comes to other groups, look, al Qaeda continues to have a presence in Afghanistan that we are very concerned about, and that is an issue of ongoing concern for us in our dialogue with the Taliban," he added.