KABUL, November 18. /TASS/. Washington’s move to freeze Afghanistan's financial assets has made it harder for the Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia) to combat terrorists from the Islamic State (IS, outlawed in Russia), Russian Ambassador to Kabul Dmitry Zhirnov told reporters on Thursday.
"When the US froze Afghanistan's financial assets, the country's banking system stopped operating due to Western sanctions. It dealt a strong blow to the new Afghan authorities' ability to fight terrorism. It got harder for them to combat the IS and terrorist attacks started to occur in Afghanistan again after a six-week gap that followed the Taliban's seizure of power," the envoy pointed out.
On August 15, the US administration froze the Afghan government's state reserves in US banks in order to prevent the radical movement from getting access to the funds. The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank also halted all assistance to Kabul. The frozen assets amount to about $9.5 bln.
The Taliban embarked on a large-scale operation to take the country under control. Taliban fighters swept into Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul on August 15, without encountering any resistance, with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fleeing the country. On September 7, the Taliban announced an interim government, which has not been recognized by any country yet.