Islamic Emirate: We Have Not Received Any Financial Aid from US

Hamdullah Fitrat, deputy spokesperson of the Islamic Emirate, has rejected claims of billions of dollars in US aid to Afghanistan, stating that the interim government has not received any funds from the United States to date.

Fitrat added that the Islamic Emirate has not requested assistance from the United States. 

According to the deputy spokesperson, US aid was spent through international organizations during the withdrawal of foreign forces, with another portion allocated to the United Nations for humanitarian assistance.

Hamdullah Fitrat further stated: “The truth is that the US has not given even a single rupee to the Islamic Emirate but has seized and frozen billions of dollars belonging to the Afghan people. The Islamic Emirate neither expects aid from the US nor has it ever requested it.”

Donald Trump, the US president-elect, stated during a press conference in Florida last night that Washington has sent not millions, but billions of dollars to Afghanistan, which is unacceptable. The US president-elect added that this situation should not continue.

Speaking to reporters, Trump said: “It is not even believable. Billions of dollars–not millions, billions– we pay billions of dollars to essentially the Taliban, Afghanistan, and that’s given by Biden. That’s the same man that took away fifty to sixty trillion dollars worth of value from the United States.”

Previously, UNAMA stated that the United Nations transfers cash to Afghanistan for use by UN agencies. This money is neither deposited in Afghanistan’s central bank nor provided to the Islamic Emirate’s authorities by the United Nations.

In this regard, UNAMA stated: “None of the cash brought in to Afghanistan is deposited in the Central Bank of Afghanistan nor provided to the Taliban de facto authorities by the UN.”

Graeme Smith, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, commented on the aid, saying:
“I think aid is likely to continue declining now, especially US aid under the Trump administration, and what’s needed now is exit-strategies. There has to be a way to shift from short-term emergency handouts towards more long-term interventions that allow Afghans to feed themselves without needing the external help from foreign donors.”

Economic experts believe that US assistance to Afghanistan has been effective in maintaining Afghan stability, reducing food prices, and preventing an economic crisis.

“There is no doubt that US assistance over the past three years has played a vital role in Afghanistan’s governance, especially amid the political crisis. Without this aid, Afghanistan would have faced economic fragility,” Mir Shakir Yaqubi, an economic analyst, told .

“There is no doubt that it will have an impact—a negative impact. We ask the US, as a powerful country, to improve its relations and interactions with Afghanistan,” Abdul Shakoor Hedayatwal, another economic analyst, told .

Meanwhile, Tim Burchett, a member of the US House of Representatives, recently called for the immediate cessation of US aid to Afghanistan in a letter to Donald Trump.