Afghanistan’s New Authorities Aim at Improving Living Standards: Russia - Tasnim News Agency

(Tasnim) – Afghanistan’s new authorities are resorting to measures aimed at improving living standards in the country, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated.

"The new authorities in Afghanistan employ efforts at increasing living standards of the country’s population," the Russian Foreign Ministry quoted Zakharova as saying in a statement. "Work is underway to recover power supplies in certain provinces," TASS reported.

"Authorities of the Taliban granted the World Health Organization (WHO) a permission to vaccinate people against poliomyelitis," she continued. "An intention to allow female students to attend middle school classes across the country was also announced."

According to Zakharova, Russia keeps closely following the developments regarding a poor humanitarian situation in Afghanistan.

"The IMF (the International Monetary Fund) recently published its forecast predicting a 30-percent plunge in Afghanistan’s GDP this year due to the country’s complex economic problems," she said.

After the United States announced the pullout of its troops from Afghanistan this past spring, the Taliban launched a large-scale operation to establish control over that country.

On August 15, the president of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani, fled the country and the Taliban swept into Kabul without encountering any resistance. On September 6, the Taliban declared its establishment of control over all of Afghanistan, and on September 7 announced the line-up of the interim cabinet, whose legitimacy has not yet been recognized by any country.