BERLIN\/ISLAMABAD
\nMinister of the State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar called for an easing of Western sanctions against Afghanistan under the Talitban government, saying the basic functioning of the Afghan economy must not be endangered.
\nThe Taliban takeover last year prompted foreign governments, led by the United States, to cut development and security aid, and the strict enforcement of sanctions has debilitated the country\u2019s banking sector.
\nIn an interview with Germany\u2019s Welt newspaper published on Thursday, foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar said isolating Afghanistan economically was pushing the country into economic collapse.
\n\u201cIf the country remains locked out of international banking and its foreign assets remain frozen, then that is what will happen. We must not promote famine,\u201d she added. Khar said the Western troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, in which Germany was also involved, had serious repercussions because it was not preceded by a negotiated solution, calling on Germany to play an active political role in easing sanctions.
\n\u201cIn the current situation, it is not a good idea to continue to starve Afghanistan and risk an economic implosion in the country,\u201d she said, adding that economic support was necessary to help the Afghan people.
\n\u201cHow is it that we spent $3 trillion on the war, but today don\u2019t even have $10 billion on Afghan survival? I don\u2019t understand this behavior,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BERLIN\/ISLAMABAD Minister of the State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar called for an easing of Western sanctions against Afghanistan under the Talitban government, saying the basic functioning of the Afghan economy must not be endangered. The Taliban takeover last year prompted foreign governments, led by the United States, to cut development and security aid, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268681,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[75,9209,6198],"class_list":{"0":"post-269094","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-national","8":"tag-afghanistan","9":"tag-easing-sanctions","10":"tag-hina-rabbani-khar"},"yoast_head":"\n