KABUL, 11 January 2022, (TON): Filippo Grandi, the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees, told “the Washington Post that it is important to maintain dialogue with the Islamic Emirate.”

He said that this will ensure that Afghanistan is viable.

Grandi said “but in the end, in the end, it is important to maintain that dialogue with the Taliban, because all these systems will be temporary in nature, and how to ensure that Afghanistan is viable, is a viable country able to support its people, I think will only be achieved through dialogue between the international community and the Taliban themselves.”

Grandi added that he delivered the same message to the Islamic Emirate when he was visiting Kabul: that the Taliban has to fulfil some promises, if they want their financial resources to be unfrozen.

He further added “when I was in Kabul, and when my colleagues were there, we all told the Taliban the same message. If you want your resources to be unfrozen, if you want the country to enjoy again substantive development support by the international community, you also have to make steps in their direction. It’s–it goes both ways, but it is a dialogue. It cannot be a wall-to-wall situation.”