Taliban issues appeal for more aid from Int´l community

A Taliban spokesperson in the city of Kunduz in northern Afghanistan has called on the international community to ramp up its provision of aid to the country, stressing that the Islamist militants are not terrorists, reported dpa.

Provincial spokesman Matiullah Ruhani said aid could take the form of investment, reconstruction projects "or any kind of humanitarian support for the government or citizens of Afghanistan," he told dpa in Kunduz, in a request directed to "the entire international community including Germany."

The Taliban would "very much welcome" help, he said.

The Taliban captured Kunduz on August 8, in one of a series of rapid advances that ultimately saw the group take control of the entire country.

The last US troops left Afghanistan at the end of August, marking the end of a military mission that lasted nearly two decades.

Ruhani criticized the international community for supporting what he described as a "corrupt government" in Afghanistan over the past 20 years, but stopping its aid when the Taliban came to power.

The Taliban brought peace to Afghanistan, he said, adding, "we are not terrorists."

Governments around the world are weighing how best to deal with the Taliban, mindful of the group's abysmal human rights record, while also focused on alleviating the burgeoning humanitarian disaster facing the country.

During its first period in power between 1996 and 2001, the militant group enforced a strictly Islamist lifestyle and completely barred women from work and education outside the home.

Ruhani refused to comment on the Taliban's controversial policies towards women, referring journalists to the transitional government in Kabul.

Ruhani said only that the Taliban valued all citizens, women and men alike.