US unveils relaxations for humanitarian aid in Afghanistan

The United States on Friday unveiled a slew of relaxations for a wide range of financial and commercial transactions in Afghanistan.

"The United States took the decision today to facilitate a broad range of commercial activities in Afghanistan to benefit the people there," the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a press statement.

The new relaxation issues a "General Licence 20", allowing "financial institutions, non-governmental organizations, international organizations, and private sector companies to engage in wide-ranging transactions and activities in Afghanistan while complying with the US sanctions."

Blinken specifically clarified that the sanctions on the Taliban regime are still in place, saying, "To be clear, sanctions on the Taliban remain in place." Today's action facilitates private companies and aid organizations to work with Afghanistan's governing institutions, he added in the official statement.

The new measures are expected to have wide implications for the Afghan economy, affecting sectors like personal and commercial banking, infrastructure development and maintenance, commercial trade, safety and maintenance operations for transportation systems, telecommunications and information transactions.

"This new licence announcement has gotten buried in Ukraine news, but it's big," said Michael Kugelman, a scholar of South Asian Affairs at Wilson Centre, Washington.

Earlier on Friday, a group of eight senior emergency experts from UN agencies and international non-governmental organizations said that more than 24 million people, which represent 59 per cent of the Afghan population, require urgent life-saving assistance.

"We stand with the people of Afghanistan as they work to rebuild their economy," Blinken said.

( With inputs from ANI )