US Faces Difficulties in Ensuring Taliban Do Not Benefit From Aid Funding

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States still finds it difficult to find a way to release Afghanistan's frozen reserve funds so that they directly benefit the Afghan people rather than the Taliban*, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said on Monday.

"The reserves remain inaccessible to the Taliban," Psaki said during a press briefing. "The status of the funds is subject to ongoing litigation brought by certain victims of the 9/11 and other terrorist attacks who hold judgments against the Taliban. These legal proceedings cannot be disregarded and have led to the temporary suspension of any movement of the funds through at least the end of the year and quite possibly longer."

Psaki said the United States also continues to face the difficult fundamental question about how it may be able to make reserve funds available "to directly benefit the people of Afghanistan while ensuring that the funds to not benefit the Taliban."

* The Taliban is an organisation under UN sanctions over terrorist activities.