Taliban appreciates India's 2023 budget and says it will help improve ties and trust

Taliban welcomed the 2023 budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, saying it would help improve Indo-Afghan relations.

Taliban estimated Rs 200 crore from the BJP government in the Union Budget for war-torn Afghanistan.

This is the second year of support from India since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. According to Khaama Press, the first announcement was made in the budget last year.

“We appreciate India's support for the development of Afghanistan. This will help improve relations and trust between the two countries," ANI quoted former Taliban negotiation team member Suhail Shaheen as saying.

India's relations with Afghanistan were dead when the Taliban came to power and India's projects in Afghanistan ended. It may be recalled. that India helped defeat the Taliban and became the largest regional donor of humanitarian and reconstruction aid to the former Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, while the Taliban targeted Indian interests in Afghanistan. Although, India and the Taliban do not have formal diplomatic relations.

Shaheen replied to this, "There were several projects in Afghanistan that were funded by India. If India continues to work on these projects, it will strengthen the relationship between the two countries and remove mistrust,"

Union Budget 2023 quoted Prime Minister Narendra Modi as saying speech The BJP government aims to maintain stability by promoting balanced economic growth. It aims to support the agenda presented in previous budgets, which focuses on inclusive development, promotion of economic growth and job creation while keeping the macroeconomy stable but growth-oriented.

However, opposition parties criticized the budget, accusing the BJP government of presenting it with polls in mind. “Overall, the Modi government has made life difficult for people. The country's economy suffered severely. The Modi government has done nothing but loot the wealth of the country. This budget is called "Naam Bade Aur Darshan Chhote Budget" (Big Advertisement and Short Delivery Time). The budget was made with elections in mind and not the country," ANI quoted Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge as saying.

Former FM P Chidambaram said the budget shows that the government does not care about the people and their concerns about life and livelihood. "The finance minister did not mention words like unemployment, poverty or inequality anywhere in his speech. Who benefited from this budget? Certainly not the poor, not the young people desperately looking for work, not the unemployed. Not the majority of taxpayers. and not housewives,” he added.