US must unfreeze Afghanistan's assets: Acting foreign minister at OIC meet

Islamabad [Pakistan], December 20 (ANI): Afghanistan's acting foreign minister Amir Khan Motaqi said that the United States must unfreeze billions of dollars of Afghanistan as the country desperately needs cash.

Speaking at the OIC’s extraordinary session on Afghanistan, Amir Khan Motaqi said that weakening the government of Afghanistan will not benefit anyone, Khaama Press reported. 

He said that drought, COVID-19, and the stoppage of foreign aids have contributed to the already fragile economic situation of Afghanistan and called on the member states of OIC to provide Afghan people with humanitarian aids.

“Afghan people have hardly been affected by COVID-19 and drought. Over $9.5 billion of Afghanistan’s funds have been frozen and the foreign aids of the World Bank, Asian Banks, and IMF have been stalled. All foreign-funded projects have also been stopped that affected the educational and health sector that ultimately impacts the lives of millions of people,” Said Motaqi.

The international community does not recognise the hardline Islamist group, which gained control of Afghanistan in August after foreign troops hastily withdrew from a two-decade deployment.

More than half of Afghanistan's 38 million people are facing food shortages, according to the United Nations.

Washington seized nearly USD 9.5 billion in assets belonging to the Afghan central bank after the Taliban gained control of the country and the aid-dependent economy has effectively collapsed. (ANI)