Taliban seek to control aid agencies, private companies in Afghanistan

The Taliban militant group wants national and international organizations operating in Afghanistan to register with it, spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid says.

He said on Wednesday that Taliban officials had been informed that certain companies and NGOs were pursuing activities the Taliban deemed to be against the national interest.

Meanwhile, Dawa Khan Minapal, the deputy spokesman for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, said the Taliban were making desperate attempts to assert control over the apparatus of government.

“Taliban is a terrorist group. They have no right to force companies, NGOs to register themselves with them.”

More than 2,200 NGOs operate in the war-ravaged country. They provide education, health and financial support to the needy.

Last year, the Taliban briefly banned the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) from operating in Afghanistan, accusing them of conducting “suspicious” activities during vaccination campaigns.

In recent months, a series of bloody attacks across Afghanistan has been claimed by the Taliban or the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.

In May, a hospital in the capital Kabul operated by the Geneva-based Doctors Without Borders came under attack by gunmen.

Official data shows that bombings and other assaults by the Taliban have surged 70 percent since the militant group signed a deal with the United States in February.

The Afghan government was a party neither to the negotiations nor to the deal, but it has been acting in accordance with its terms, including by agreeing to free Taliban prisoners.

However, the militants have not stopped attacking government targets and civilians.

The deal envisages a complete withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan.

MG