KARACHI: Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan and President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, Mian Zahid Hussain has said that Taliban now are not as strict as they used to be and the international community should give them a chance to prove their claims, as pushing them to the wall will be counterproductive.

He was of the view that the world should accept change in Afghanistan and cooperate with the new government. All the countries should establish diplomatic and trade relations with Afghanistan for a better tomorrow, he said.

Mian Zahid said that neglecting Afghanistan would be a mistake as it will destabilize the region and its effects would be felt across the world. He said that the central bank of Afghanistan has kept gold, foreign currency and relics worth almost ten billion dollars in the western banks for security purposes that cannot be retrieved due to the decision to the recent freeze of Afghan assets.

The international financial institutions have also stopped their due payments which can exuberate crisis which will not be beneficial for the world, he said.

He said that strict actions against the new regime will result in economic troubles, frustration, difficulties in payment of salaries and bills and degradation of infrastructure.

Mian Zahid said that all the sanctions on Taliban should be lifted so that they could be included in the international mainstream while their assets should be released which will be sufficient for their imports for fifteen months.

He said that punishing the Taliban will erode their currency, trigger inflation, and stoke poverty; therefore, the western world should reconsider their decision. He lauded the efforts of the government of Pakistan to safely evacuate journalists, traders and others stranded in Afghanistan.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021