Afghanistan: Taliban govt urges US to unfreeze its central bank assets

TOLOnews quoted the minister as saying that following the signing of the Doha Agreement, the Islamic Emirate and the US is no longer neither in direct conflict or in military opposition.

“It is quite surprising that with the announcement of the new government, the administration of the United States of America slapped sanctions on the assets of our Central Bank. This goes against our expectations as well as the Doha Agreement,” the letter reads.

It further said, “Currently the fundamental challenge of our people is financial security and the roots of this concern lead back to the freezing of assets of our people by the American government.”

The minister opined that freezing the assets will not resolve any problems.

“We are of the belief that freezing Afghan assets cannot resolve the problem at hand neither is it the demand of the American people, hence your government must unfreeze our capital,” he said.

He said if the assets remain frozen the problems in the country will worsen during the winter season.

“We are concerned that if the current situation prevails, the Afghan government and people will face problems and will become a cause for mass migration in the region and world which will consequently create further humanitarian and economic issues for the world,” the letter reads.

The minister also requested the US to "take responsible steps towards addressing the humanitarian and economic crisis unfolding in Afghanistan so that doors for future relations are opened, assets of Afghanistan’s Central Bank are unfrozen and sanctions on our banks are lifted."