Taliban and US officials to meet amid quake relief efforts
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Afghan finance and central bank officials from the Taliban-led government departed for Qatar on Wednesday to meet with U.S. officials, the Taliban said. The meeting follows last week’s deadly earthquake, which brought into focus how relief and emergency aid efforts have stumbled under the weight of the country’s spiraling economic woes.
The quake in southeastern Afghanistan killed around 770 people, according to U.N. figures, though the Taliban put the death toll at closer to 1,150, with thousands injured. The U.N. says 155 children are among those killed in what was the deadliest earthquake to hit the impoverished country in two decades.
Several thousand homes were destroyed or badly damaged in Paktika and Khost provinces. Despite international aid efforts by U.N. agencies and countries in the region, survivors say they need more help to subsist.
“We ask for assistance because all our houses are destroyed and we cannot live inside them. People need assistance, we don’t have tents or a place to stay,” said a resident of Khost province, Tawar Khan.
Overstretched aid agencies say last week’s earthquake underscored the need for the international community to rethink its financial cut-off of Afghanistan and freezing of the country's reserves. Nearly half of Afghanistan's population of 38 million cannot meet their basic food needs. The government is unable to pay public sector wages on time or import what the country needs.
Taliban government officials and U.S. officials were slated to meet in Doha, Qatar on Wednesday to discuss Afghanistan's economy and banking sectors, among other issues, said Taliban Foreign Ministry spokesman Hafiz Zia Ahmad. He said the Afghan delegation, led by Foreign Minister Maulvi Amir Khan Muttaqi, is meeting with the U.S. Special Representative for...
