The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has strongly rejected claims by Donald Trump that the ruling government is receiving “billions of dollars” from the United States.

Hamdullah Fitrat, the IEA’s deputy spokesman said: “The claims of billions and millions of dollars of aid to the Islamic Emirate from the US side are completely false and we strongly reject them.”

This comes after Trump said at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday that the US pays “billions of dollars essentially to the Taliban (IEA), Afghanistan.”

Trump implied that outgoing President Joe Biden’s decisions had inflicted severe economic damage on the United States, estimating that losses totalled up to $60 trillion.

Fitrat meanwhile said America has not paid a single dollar to the Islamic Emirate, but has seized and frozen billions of dollars from the people of Afghanistan.

The Islamic Emirate does not expect any help from America and has never asked for it, Fitrat said.

According to the IEA the money mentioned by Trump was to cover US expenses, including the withdrawal of troops and mass evacuation and resettlement process.

“Perhaps some of it has been spent by international organizations in the name of humanitarian aid,” Fitrat added.

“If analyzed carefully, America has spent all this money to achieve its goals in the name of Afghanistan, and is trying to spread propaganda against the Islamic Emirate,” said Fitrat.

Richard Bennett, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights for Afghanistan, has emphasized the need to protect Afghan migrants in Pakistan and urged governments to treat them more humanely. 

Responding to reports of an uptick in forced deportations of Afghan migrants in Pakistan, he reiterated his call for Afghan refugees not to return to the country and emphasized the need for host countries to support them.

He also called on UN member countries to increase financial assistance and other aid to help support migrants. 

This comes amid reports of Pakistan’s ongoing campaign to forcibly deport Afghan migrants in the country. 

This week the Afghanistan embassy expressed “deep concern over the recent detention of approximately 800 Afghan nationals in Islamabad, including individuals holding valid visas, PoR, and ACC cards”.

The embassy stated that the lack of clarity surrounding NOC (No Objection Certificate) requirements/issuance process has led to troubling cases of arbitrary detention and deportation.

“Among those deported are 137 Afghan nationals whose visas had expired but who had already applied for extensions, as well as holders of temporary SHARP/UNHCR registration,” the embassy said.

Mistreatment of Afghan migrants must stop: Khalilzad

US President-elect Donald Trump believes the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan was "badly handled" and that seeing this, Russia decided to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Trump claimed that he was in power during a time when "we had no wars," but now he is "going into a world that's burning."

The US President-elect criticized how the American withdrawal from Afghanistan was carried out. According to Trump, he would have withdrawn the troops from Afghanistan earlier than President Joe Biden and done so "with dignity and strength."

"The way they got out was outrageous. Leaving billions of dollars of brand new military equipment that I bought in the hands of the Afghans. And specifically to the Taliban (Islamic Emirate)," Trump added.

He emphasized that the US withdrawal from Afghanistan was "badly handled."

"And because of that, I think Russia went and attacked Ukraine when they saw that. They said, 'these guys are incompetent - they don't know what they're doing'. But we know what we're doing now," Trump added.

In April 2021, it was announced that the United States had begun withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan, where they had been stationed since 2001. All American soldiers were fully withdrawn from the country by August 31, 2021.

US forces were initially deployed to Afghanistan to combat terrorism following the September 11 attacks.