Taliban warns it will 'reconsider' US policy amid row over splitting Afghanistan's frozen funds

The Taliban on Tuesday warned that it will 'reconsider' policy towards the US if it does not receive full USD 7 billion frozen assets.

US President Joe Biden on Friday decided to split USD 7 billion of the frozen Afghan assets to fund humanitarian relief in Afghanistan and compensate victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

A spokesman for the Taliban issued a statement on Monday saying that the September 11 attacks "had nothing to do with Afghanistan." The spokesman said if the United States "does not deviate from its position and continues its provocative actions, the Islamic Emirate will also be forced to reconsider its policy towards the country," referring to Afghanistan's official name, reported Voice of America (VOA).

The Taliban ruled Afghanistan at the time of the September 11 attacks and harboured Osama bin Laden, the head of the Al-Qaida terrorist network and mastermind of the US attacks.

A US-led invasion of Afghanistan weeks after the attacks overthrew the Taliban after they refused Washington's demands to surrender Bin Laden.

The US withdrawal from Afghanistan last August ended the nearly 20-year war, but the United Nations and other international relief groups say Afghanistan faces one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, which stems from more than four decades of conflict and natural calamities, reported VOA.

More than half of the country's poverty-stricken population, or an estimated 24 million Afghans, face an acute food shortage and some one million children under five years of age could die from hunger by the end of this year, according to UN estimates following the US withdrawal from the country.

( With inputs from ANI )

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