Legitimacy and support must be earned by actions: US to Taliban

US special representative to Afghanistan Thomas West said "legitimacy and support must be earned by actions" while referring to the Taliban. 

Washington had earlier made it clear that if the Taliban claimed power by military force rather than negotiation then crucial non-humanitarian aid would be cut.

"We will continue clear-eyed, candid diplomacy with the Taliban," West said in a tweet, adding," The US will continue to support the Afghan people with humanitarian aid. We've provided $474 million this year."

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The Taliban called for the release of frozen assets with Afghanistan witnessing unprecedented economic turmoil. The Taliban had written an open letter to the US Congress urging them to unfreeze assets.

West said: "The Taliban’s letter to Congress earlier this week misconstrued the facts regarding Afghanistan’s economic and humanitarian crisis."

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"Afghanistan was unfortunately already suffering a terrible humanitarian crisis before mid-August, made worse by war, years of drought and the pandemic," the US special representative to Afghanistan added.

Taliban's foreign minister had said that the biggest challenge facing Afghanistan was financial insecurity and warned that economic turmoil could lead to trouble abroad. The Biden administration has seized assets which belong to the Afghan central bank as civil servants have been unpaid for months and the treasury is unable to pay for imports.

West pointed out that the US and its allies are "making every effort to help the UN and humanitarian actors scale up to meet needs this winter."

(With inputs from Agencies)