The Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021 after foreign forces ended their 20-year presence in the country. But the government established by the Islamist movement, known as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), remains unrecognized by any country and faces financial and travel sanctions.
Taliban soldiers at a checkpoint at the entrance to Kabul University in Kabul, Afghanistan, June 14, 2023. Photo: REUTERS
"The IEA reiterates that it is important for confidence building that the blacklist is lifted, and bank reserves are not frozen so that Afghans can establish an economy that is not dependent on foreign aid," said Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Qahar Balkhi.
Balkhi said an IEA delegation led by acting Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Muttaqi, including officials from Afghanistan's central bank and finance ministry, met with Western officials and a 15-member US delegation from various ministries over two days in Doha.
Most Taliban leaders need UN permission to travel outside Afghanistan and the country's banking sector has been crippled by financial sanctions.
About $7 billion in Afghanistan's central bank funds were frozen at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in August 2021 after the Taliban took control of the country after a 20-year insurgency. Half of that money now belongs to the Switzerland-based Afghanistan Fund.
A recent audit by the Afghan Central Bank has failed to win Washington's support for the return of bank assets from a Swiss-based trust fund.
Mai Anh (according to Reuters, CNA)
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