Ex-British FM: West has inflicted catastrophic damage on Afghanistan

Former British Foreign Secretary David Miliband says the West has inflicted catastrophic damage on Afghanistan and its own reputation by imposing a policy of starvation on the country.

Many of the US allies and Western governments have largely suspended their financial assistance to Afghanistan since the US troop withdrawal and the Taliban takeover last year, triggering the rapid collapse of public finances.

“What we are doing is not making it worse for the Taliban, it is making it worse for the people. We are not punishing the Taliban. It is ordinary Afghans that are paying the price of peace,” Miliband told British daily the Guardian on Sunday.

“It is not just a catastrophe of choice, but a catastrophe of reputation. This is a starvation policy," he added.

The Biden administration has frozen assets belonging to the Afghan Central Bank since the withdrawal of its occupation forces from the country in August 2021, spawning one of the world’s most rapidly growing humanitarian crises.

“If we wanted to create a failed state we could not have a more effective policy mix than the one we have at the moment,” Miliband said.

"The choice is a very brutal one. It is not ‘do you help the Taliban or not?’ It is “do you help the people or not?’. This is a government where already 75 percent of its spending came in the form of international aid and has gone overnight.”

Miliband stressed that the US sanctions have a “chilling effect” on the Afghan economy, and called on Washington for a change in the foreign policy.

He warned the crisis was so deep that the UN’s appeal for $4 billion this year was likely to rise to $10 billion next year.

“There is no money to pay salaries. Some teachers and hospital workers have not been paid since April. That has to change,” he said.

The White House announced last week that the US Treasury planned to use $7 billion of Afghan funds frozen in the US banks for compensation to the alleged families of the victims of the 9/11 attacks and humanitarian aid.

ME