The United States, Russia, and China—the Troika—all met together Thursday in Islamabad, hosted by Pakistan, hence, the “Troika Plus.” The three were each represented by their special envoys on Afghanistan, and Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi opened the affair: “The engagement with Afghanistan must not only continue but should be enhanced for multiple reasons. Nobody wishes to see a relapse into civil war, no one wants an economic collapse that will spur instability; everyone wants terrorist elements operating inside Afghanistan to be tackled effectively and we all want to prevent a new refugee crisis.”
He continued: “Today, Afghanistan stands at the brink of an economic collapse.” Any further economic deterioration would “severely limit” the Taliban government’s ability to run the country. “It is, therefore, imperative for the international community to buttress provision of humanitarian assistance on an urgent basis.” Resumption of funding “will dovetail into our efforts to regenerate economic activities and move the Afghan economy towards stability and sustainability.” Generally, the Pakistani position has been that Afghanistan’s $9 billion should be returned, development aid be allowed, and Afghanistan be folded into CPEC (the China-Pakistan portion of the Belt & Road Initiative).
A key question is whether the new American envoy, Thomas West, and the Biden administration will listen to reason: that the $9 billion of Afghan money must be unfrozen to even allow the Afghani situation to begin to be stabilized. Qureshi underlined his point: “If you think that you are far, Europe is safe and those areas you imagine will not be affected by terrorism, don’t forget the history. We have learned from the history, and we don’t want to repeat those mistakes made in the past.”
