It may be the only lever left to the West but playing politics with the external funding on which life in Afghanistan has been built over the last 20 years would be disastrous.
As Western powers pull out of Afghanistan, they have begun to ask themselves what their remaining sources of leverage over the Taliban are. In forums like the G-7 meeting chaired by the United Kingdom, conversations rapidly turn to the possibility of using funding as a means of pressure. This is a dangerous approach.
Afghanistan is critically dependent on foreign aid. In recent years, it was not unusual for it to have received aid amounting to 43 per cent of its GDP. That flow of funds has now been suspended, giving the West leverage.
