On the 11th of February at around 7 AM, the Acting President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan has posted a tweet in which he mentioned that nine citizens of the western countries have been kidnapped. One of which is actually a well-known journalist, Andrew North who was a correspondent for the BBC.
Andrew North was known to last work for the UN in Kabul. He had left for Afghanistan about 4 months ago when the Taliban took over the government. The UN had tried to mitigate the damage created by the forceful takeover and help the citizens as much as possible without creating an incident with the Taliban.
The Washington Post reported that a member of a Taliban intelligence unit in Kabul said: “several foreign nationals” were arrested in Kabul on charges of working for Western intelligence agencies. However, the journalists and other people that have been detained were working towards recording the transition that citizens were going through with the changes implied by the Taliban.
Despite the surprising organization that has been showcased by the Taliban towards governing Afghanistan, they are still as ruthless as they were before coming to power.
The main problem that the Taliban is facing at the moment is the economical crisis within Afghanistan since they have taken over. Afghanistan has a reserve of $9 billion, however, $7 billion ae frozen in different accounts across the western world. A good percentage from the local reserve has been used to replenish their military force as a recruit, train, and arm new forces.
Later that day, the UN has sent a tweet saying that they are well aware of the situation and that they are working with representatives from the Taliban towards solving this issue and having the prisoners released. The UN Refugee Agency has been building some good relations over the past few months with representatives from the Taliban towards helping the citizens that have been caught in the middle of the incident.
During this time not a lot of information had been given out about why exactly the journalists have been detained or what the Taliban is planning to do with them. Based on historical records, most of the times the Taliban kidnapped someone they would only release the person for a hefty ransom. The good news is that in less than 24 hours the issue had been diplomatically solved and all of those detained by the Taliban have been released without a scratch. The UN had made an official statement of Twiter mentioning their release:
Foreign nations have refused to recognize the Taliban-led administration but have ramped up engagement as they try to avert a massive humanitarian crisis stemming from an economy stalled by sanctions and a halt in development funding since the group took over. Many diplomatic meetings have been scheduled this year by various western organizations to take place with the new governing body of Afghanistan.
After all the details have been communicated, the relations with the governing body of Afghanistan are improving, but there is still a lot of work to be done when it comes to diplomacy.
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