KABUL - The Presidential Palace (ARG) stated Monday that neither the Afghan government nor independent sources that fund development projects or provide aid will fall victim to Taliban extortion tactics.
According to ARG, the decision not to pay bribes to Taliban in insecure areas across the country was discussed at a national procurement session on Sunday.
ARG said some villages are being deprived of aid because of the Taliban’s habit of demanding bribes.
ARG also stated that it is not prepared to give Taliban money that is meant to alleviate the plight of the people.
According to ARG out of 11,000 villages across the country that were identified to benefit from government-assisted projects, only 10,000 villages benefitted.
ARG’s statement came on the heels of a Facebook post by First Vice President Amrullah Saleh early Monday who raised the issue after his daily 6.30am security meeting.
He stated that sources of funding for these villages will not be held to ransom by the Taliban in order to gain access to insecure areas.
“This anti-human performance by the Taliban has left a number of villages in the country deprived of aid,” said Saleh.
He said 1,000 villages have not received the necessary aid as government has “faced a security problem and we are not ready to share the bread of the people with blackmail terrorists.” (ATN)