Abbas Stanikzai, the Taliban’s deputy foreign minister for political affairs, asked the international community to work with the Taliban "despite the difference of opinion in some areas”.
On Tuesday, Stanikzai met Roza Otunbayeva, the UN Special Representative in Afghanistan, and said that the Taliban should "be given the right to attend international meetings, including those of the United Nations”.
Zia Ahmad Takal, the Deputy Spokesperson of the Taliban's Foreign Ministry, said that the meeting between the two sides focused on the counternarcotics efforts and ways to revive trade, and demining in Afghanistan.
At a time when humanitarian aid to Afghanistan is decreasing due to the Taliban’s radical policies, Stanikzai told the UN Special Representative in Kabul that "political differences" should not negatively affect international aid to Afghanistan.
Humanitarian aid to Afghanistan has decreased due to the Taliban’s continued ban on women's education and work. Donor countries have repeatedly requested the return of female workers to aid organisations, but the Taliban has rejected their demands.
Not long ago, the United Nations announced in a statement that following the Taliban's restrictions on female aid workers in Afghanistan, the organisation's aid budget from donor countries had been reduced by more than one billion dollars.
This year, the UN requested 4.6 billion dollars as the annual budget for aid to Afghanistan, of which donor countries agreed to 3.2 billion dollars only.
