(EFE).- The Taliban said on Tuesday that the United Nations should help them in assisting nearly 3.5 million Afghans return to their homes after having been displaced inside the country due to violence.

The statement comes as the latest attempt by the fundamentalists to gain the trust of the international community.

“The priority for the Islamic Emirate is to return the displaced families to their native areas (…) before the arrival of winter. The UN should assist in this regard and the Islamic Emirate is ready for every type of cooperation,” Taliban spokesperson Naeem Wardak tweeted.

The statement comes after UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi met the foreign minister in the Taliban’s interim government, Amir Khan Mutaqi.

“In this meeting general discussions were held on humanitarian activities and assistance, particularly the issue of those Afghans who migrated abroad and the issue of the internally displaced people,” Wardak said.

The Taliban said that with the help of the local government, the international community “should help to create a conducive situation in Afghanistan in which Afghans are not willing to migrate from the country. but instead the situation encourages (…) them to return back.”

Around 3.5 million Afghans have been living as internally displaced persons due to violence, out of which around half a million have been forced to flee their houses in the last eight months.

Moreover, 2.3 million Afghans live in Afghanistan and Iran, the two neighboring countries which have opened their doors to them during nearly four decades of conflicts.

Grandi arrived in Afghanistan on Monday on a two to three days visit according to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), marking his first tour of the country since the Islamists took over a month ago.

A conference organized by the UN on Monday to raise humanitarian aid for Afghanistan saw the international community pledging over $1 billion in assistance, although the international body has admitted that this aid cannot be delivered without working together with the Taliban.

UN General Secretary Antonio Guterres said it was important to engage with the Taliban regime in this and other aspects of interest for the international community, such as terrorism and drug trafficking.

The international community has expressed its concern over the violation of the rights of women and girls, and has sought to highlight the lack of food security in a country which has been hit by a severe draught that could destroy crops. EFE
© 2021 EFE News Services (U.S.) Inc.

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