Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
Taliban beg Congress United States of America can cash out assets Afghanistan worth billions of dollars frozen since the group took power.
Afghanistan’s foreign minister in the Taliban regime, Amir Khan Muttaqi, said the biggest threat facing Afghanistan today is financial problems.
“The root of this problem is the freezing of the assets of our citizens by the American government,” Muttaqi was quoted as saying AFP.
“We hope that the members of the United States congress will seriously consider our request. I ask that the door to future relations be opened, the assets of the Afghan central bank to be disbursed and sanctions on our bank lifted,” he added.
Muttaqi said the Taliban regime understands the international community’s concern about the fate of Afghanistan at the hands of the group’s leadership, which has a poor history of upholding human rights.
However, Muttaqi hopes the international community can take a positive attitude to give the Taliban a chance to build trust.
Muttaqi also warned that the worsening economic situation in Afghanistan could lead to a wave of exodus of immigrants abroad.
It warns that the economic crisis that threatens Afghanistan can now also pose problems for foreign countries.
“If this situation continues, the Afghan government and people will face problems and will be the cause of mass migration in the region and the world, will also cause humanitarian and economic problems,” he added.
Afghanistan holds nearly US$9.5 billion in assets in the US central bank, the Federal Reserve.
Meanwhile in other European countries, such as the Bank for International Settlements, the country’s assets are estimated at US$1.3 billion (Rp18.5 trillion).
Since the Taliban took power in August, Western countries have suspended relations with Afghanistan, including aid flows and freezing of the country’s assets.
A top official at Afghanistan’s central bank, Shah Mehrabi, said Afghanistan’s financial situation was now increasingly desperate as the amount of cash on hand was decreasing.
Mehrabi even said the Taliban regime only had enough cash to guard Afghanistan until the end of 2021 only.
(pwn / rds)
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