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Moscow to push for unfreezing of Afghan foreign assets, says Russian envoy

According to Zamir Kabulov, the national reserves are not connected with the Taliban movement and belong to the Afghan people

MOSCOW, October 25. /TASS/. The freezing of Afghanistan’s assets in the US and EU is ridiculous, they should be unfrozen, which Moscow will be pushing for, Russian Presidential Envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov told an online press conference on Monday.

"Out of $9.5 bln worth of assets of the state over $8 bln [have been frozen] in the US, whereas $1.5 bln, as we are told, have been frozen in Europe. This is absolutely ridiculous, they should be unfrozen," he said.

The national reserves are not connected with the Taliban movement (banned in Russia) and belong to the Afghan people, Kabulov noted. "This was reflected in the Moscow-format final document. This should be addressed, and we will continue pushing for [unfreezing] with other international partners," he added.

Kabulov considers it necessary to give the reserves belonging to the Afghan people back to them since "if the west attempts to stifle Afghanistan’s new power" using hunger this may lead to the development of the drug industry and weapons trade from Afghan territory. "If the west wants it, it is on the right track. The impoverished Afghan population, whose share rises each day, will only have two ways out: to join the destructive international terrorist groups to earn keep somehow, or to emigrate to Europe on a mass scale, which Europe opposes, at least rhetorically. If they want something different, they should do everything to encourage the Afghan people to stay at home, but for that they should be provided with emergency humanitarian aid at the first stage, and with jobs at the second stage, so that the situation for each separate Afghan family is stable and predictable," he explained.