No doubt it’s a huge development and very good news indeed that the United States of America has freed half of $7bn in frozen Afghan funds for aid (“US frees half of $7bn in frozen Afghan funds for aid,” Feb. 12, Gulf Today website).

The United States of America fought its history’s longest war in Afghanistan that lasted almost 20 years. People of Afghanistan have gone through four decades of war in which they lost everything. The country faced huge financial losses and sacrificed millions of precious lives, but there was no military solution.

It was the right decision by the United States of America to solve all the deadly Afghan issues by negotiating with the Afghan Taliban. And it’s also notable that the Afghan Taliban welcomed the US initiative for peace talks and stood by the commitment during the first ceasefire between the US and Nato troops and Afghan Taliban.

The Afghan Taliban government is a result of peace negotiations between the US and the Taliban.

Now Afghanistan is a much more peaceful country than earlier during the war. The Taliban government is trying their level best to address all the concerns the international community has regarding freedom of speech, security and girls’ education.

It was unfortunate that after the Nato pullout from Afghanistan on August 30, 2021, the US imposed sanctions on the Taliban government and froze development funds for Afghanistan.The painful decision of freezing development funds was not only damaging the Taliban government but it was a disaster for the people of Afghanistan.

The US decision to unfreeze half of $7bn in frozen Afghan funds for aid is late but not too late, and it’s a highly laudable decision. I pray for a peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan.

Jaffar Shamsi — By email