The Taliban* on Wednesday said that the international community must help Kabul in resolving the problem of Afghan assets which have been frozen overseas.
A total of $9Bln of Afghanistan's central funds remain frozen in the US and Europe since the hardline Islamic group's return to power in Kabul in August 2021.
"Considering the emergency situation in Afghanistan, it is necessary for the member countries of the United Nations to resolve the problem of frozen Afghan assets, banking, travel bans and other restrictions as soon as possible. So that Afghanistan can progress in economic, political and security areas. Afghans have the capacity to stand on their own feet," Taliban's chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told reporters in the Afghan capital.
Of the $7Bln held by the US, the Joe Biden administration earmarked $3.5Bln for victims of the 9/11 attacks and transferred the rest to the Bank for International Settlements in Switzerland, keeping the funds frozen there.
US authorities have repeatedly said that the fund could be disbursed to Afghanistan if the country's central bank could demonstrate that it had a foolproof system to stop money laundering and terrorist funding.
With Afghanistan's economy teetering because of a lack of funds, aid agencies continue to provide basic necessities, including food and healthcare to ordinary Afghans even after the Taliban takeover.
Under previous governments, 80 percent of the federal budget was funded by Western donors. However, since the Taliban came back to power, overseas aid has been drying up, under the pretext of the movement's hardline policies towards women, among other things.
No international government has so far officially recognized the Taliban despite their continued appeals to foreign countries: the country is still represented by the previous Ashraf Ghani-led government in the United Nations and at several diplomatic missions around the world.
At the same time, several nations, including Russia, have maintained a diplomatic presence in the country.
*under UN sanctions for terrorism