Afghanistan: Taliban to push for self-sufficiency, international trade, investment

The governing Taliban administration in Afghanistan is set to push for self-sufficiency along with international trade and investment. The move follows the Taliban’s latest decrees that further put restrictions on women.

Speaking to Reuters, the Taliban’s acting commerce minister Haji Nooruddin Azizi said the administration would start a self-sufficiency program in the country to encourage the people to buy local products and even promote the initiative to worshippers in mosques. Azizi added that products that can help further the initiative would be supported.

Azizi also cited that foreign trade and investment are another part of the administration’s strategy.

“Those who were importing items to Afghanistan from abroad, they are asking us to provide opportunities for investing in Afghanistan and they want to invest here instead of importing from abroad,” said Azizi, citing that countries such as Iran, China, and Russia are interested in trade and investment in Afghanistan. Azizi said that some of the projects that are in discussions include Chinese industrial parks and thermal power plants, with involvement from Russia and Iran.

The Taliban administration still lacks formal recognition from the international community, and the recent attacks by the Islamic State militant group have prompted some potential investors to re-think about investing in Afghanistan. Azizi assured that authorities are working to ensure security in the country.

“We do our best for businessmen to not come to harm. The attack hasn’t had any bad impact, if it happened constantly, yes it might have a bad impact,” said Azizi.

The Taliban is facing increased isolation following its latest set of restrictive policies, ordering universities to bar women from attending and ordering NGOs to bar its female workers. Both policies led to condemnation even from predominantly-Muslim countries.

Last week, the United Nations announced that it has temporarily suspended some humanitarian programs deemed “time critical” following the decree and warned that other activities would likely be temporarily put on hold.

UN aid chief Martin Griffiths and other heads of several aid groups issued a joint statement making the announcement, stressing the importance of women’s participation in delivering aid and calling on the Taliban to reverse the decision.