Taliban Threaten the U.S., Europe with Migrant Wave if Sanctions Continue

Taliban Threaten the U.S., Europe with Migrant Wave if Sanctions Continue

The Taliban have threatened the United States and the European Union with a migrant wave if they do not lift sanctions against Afghanistan’s Islamist regime. “Afghanistan’s new Taliban government has warned US and European envoys that continued attempts to pressure them through sanctions will undermine security and could trigger a wave of economic refugees.” the French news agency AFP reported on Wednesday.

The Taliban’s demand comes just days after President Joe Biden’s administration agreed to provide humanitarian aid to the Islamist-ruled country. “The Taliban says U.S. has agreed to provide humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan,” the broadcaster NPR reported on Sunday following the first direct talks between the Biden administration and Afghanistan’s new ruling jihadi militia.

The Taliban want the world — and the Western powers in particular — to provide billions of dollars to run its Sharia-governed “Islamic Emirate.” Afghanistan has little economic output of its own. “Some 40% of the country’s GDP – national output – comes from aid,” the World Bank estimates.

France’s AFP reported the Taliban’s latest threats:

Afghanistan’s new Taliban government has warned US and European envoys that continued attempts to pressure them through sanctions will undermine security and could trigger a wave of economic refugees.

Acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi told Western diplomats at talks in Doha that “weakening the Afghan government is not in the interest of anyone because its negative effects will directly affect the world in (the) security sector and economic migration from the country”, according to a statement published late Tuesday.

The Taliban overthrew Afghanistan’s former US-backed government in August after a two-decade-long conflict, and have declared an Islamic emirate governed under the movement’s hardline interpretation of religious law.

But efforts to stabilise the country, still facing attacks from rival extremist group the Islamic State-Khorasan, have been undermined by international sanctions: banks are running out of cash and civil servants are going unpaid.

The Islamist militia is also seeking China’s help in generating revenue for its newly-established state. On Thursday, the Taliban revealed that China had offered billions to exploit Afghanistan’s mineral and other resources. “China wants to invest billions of dollars in Afghanistan if the Taliban guarantee security for their workers and their assets,” the broadcaster Voice of American reported.

With the U.S. and the European governments failing to secure their borders, the Taliban exploit their vulnerability to extort huge sums. The EU handed over Turkey’s Erdogan regime 6 billion euros to curb the inflow of illegal immigrants. Afghan jihadi militia may want a similar deal.

As Afghan refugees approach Europe, the EU fears a repeat of the 2015 migrant wave. “After the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, Europe is expecting a new wave of refugees. Thousands are already waiting to cross the Iranian-Turkish border,” the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported last month.

More than a million migrants, mostly young men from Muslim countries, swarmed the shores and borders of Europe six years ago. Germany, France, and other European countries saw an upsurge in migrant crimes and Islamic terrorist attacks in the wake of the influx.

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