Purple Saturdays Movement Welcomes U.S. House of Representatives' Approval of Bill to Cut Foreign Aid to the Taliban

The Purple Saturdays Movement has called on the U.S. Senate and government to endorse this bill and implement real sanctions on the Taliban to support the people of Afghanistan, especially women. The movement expects the U.S. government to clarify how and for what purposes the $2.8 billion in financial aid to Afghanistan under Taliban rule has been spent.

The statement highlights the movement's concerns about the Taliban's misuse of international humanitarian aid to promote extremism and build religious schools. It had asked UNAMA (United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan) to release a report on how these funds are being used.

According to a report last month by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), the Taliban have received over $10.9 million in taxes from U.S. project implementing partners over the past three years.

The Purple Saturdays Movement believes that one of the reasons for the persistence of the "self-declared and anti-women Taliban regime and the transformation of Afghanistan into a base for international terrorists" is the overt and covert international aid, including the $40 million weekly aid from the United States, which according to recent reports, has increased to over $70 million a week.

The Purple Saturdays Movement emphasizes that the Taliban's access to foreign aid indirectly supports and maintains their power, enabling them to severely oppress women, vulnerable ethnic groups, and religious minorities with these funds.

The movement has urged the U.S. Congress to pressure their government to arrest Sirajuddin Haqqani, who has a $10 million bounty for his capture.

The movement condemned the United Nations Security Council's extension of Sirajuddin Haqqani's travel exemption as a great betrayal to the people of Afghanistan and particularly to the struggles of women, calling for the prosecution of Taliban leaders including Sirajuddin Haqqani.

The Purple Saturdays Movement also called on the United Nations and the Security Council to support the people of Afghanistan instead of the "terrorist Taliban." The movement condemned any support, appeasement, whitewashing, and normalization of the Taliban's presence in international meetings, especially the third Doha meeting, and called for an increase in humanitarian aid to the people of Afghanistan, especially women and children.

The movement believes that cutting the Taliban's access to foreign aid could reduce the suffering and pain of the Afghan people, particularly women and religious minorities, and stressed the importance of establishing a legitimate, democratic, and decentralized system in Afghanistan to rescue the country from the current crisis.