Purple Saturday Movement: Don't Trust the Taliban! Help the Flood Victims Without Giving Access to This Group
Zan News: The Taliban has recently requested aid organizations to provide assistance to flood victims in Afghanistan through bank accounts that "the group will create." However, the Purple Saturdays movement has warned in a statement that sending aid to Taliban accounts could lead to the strengthening of terrorist groups and the embezzlement of aid by the group.
The statement, released today, Thursday (May 23), states that the Taliban have "collected exorbitant amounts of money under the guise of taxes, tithes, and alms from the people through coercion over the past three years, have controlled all domestic revenue from customs to the sale of mines, and also receive $40 million a week from the United States under the name of humanitarian aid," but have provided no assistance to the flood victims.
According to the statement, Taliban leaders and officials enjoy the same welfare facilities as the officials of the previous government, while the people live in poverty and hunger, and the aid provided is embezzled by the Taliban, just as the aid provided during the previous government was.
The Purple Saturdays movement calls on domestic and foreign aid agencies, the United Nations, and donor countries to prevent the Taliban from accessing, misusing, and stealing humanitarian aid.
The movement has also called on Afghan citizens living abroad not to trust the Taliban and to deliver their aid to the flood victims through reputable organizations or trusted individuals.
The statement says that "the self-proclaimed and illegitimate Taliban government has been one of the main obstacles to achieving a progressive Afghanistan and establishing diplomatic relations with the international community in the nearly three years since its inception. This group, by violating the rights and freedoms of the Afghan people, especially women, vulnerable groups, and religious minorities in the country, has brought the Afghan people to their knees."
The Purple Saturdays movement calls for support for the formation of an alternative to Taliban rule that is a "legitimate, democratic, and decentralized government."