The Taliban have pleaded with the U.S. and the West to show "mercy and compassion" by releasing $10 billion in funds frozen when the organization captured Afghanistan.
Speaking in a rare interview, Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi announced the funds would assist millions of the nation's citizens in desperate need.
He said that Afghanistan's new Taliban rulers are committed in principle to education and jobs for girls and women, a marked departure from their last time in power, which saw a record of oppression and human rights abuses.
Speaking to the Associated Press, Muttaqi announced that the new government wants good ties with all nations and has no problem with the United States.
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He advised the U.S. and other countries to release the frozen funds when the Taliban took power on August 15, after a rapid military sweep across Afghanistan and the sudden, secret flight of U.S.-backed President Ashraf Ghani.
Despite pressuring the Taliban to change for the better, Muttaqi's comments indicate an alarming situation in Afghanistan. It was one of the poorest nations in the world per capita before the group took control of the nation.
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"Sanctions against Afghanistan would ... not have any benefit," Muttaqi announced on Sunday, speaking in his native Pashto during the interview in the sprawling pale brick Foreign Ministry building in the heart of the Afghan capital of Kabul.
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"Making Afghanistan unstable or having a weak Afghan government is not in the interest of anyone," stated Muttaqi. Their aides include employees of the last government as well as those drafted from the ranks of the Taliban.
Muttaqi's remarks are not the first time he has pleaded for the funds, from Afghanistan's Central Bank, to be released.
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In October, Deputy United States Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo told a U.S. Senate Committee that he saw no situation in which the Taliban would be permitted to access those resources.
Concerned nations had pledged aid to the nation, which made up a significant part of its economy before the Taliban took over. Yet, many are reluctant to send funds unless the Taliban agrees to a more inclusive society.
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In the meantime, reports from Afghanistan have told harrowing stories, such as parents being forced to sell their children to survive and droughts forcing people from their homes.
The UN has warned that more than half of Afghanistan's population faces starvation this winter, a crisis compounded by the reality that many aid agencies fled the nation as the government collapsed and international aid dried up.
International charity, Save the Children, has called on governments to make urgent exemptions to existing counter-terror and sanctions policies to deliver life-saving humanitarian aid.
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