UN Wants to See $7Bln in Afghan Reserves Frozen in US Returned

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) - The United Nations would like to see Afghanistan’s reserves in the amount of $7 billion in the United States returned back to the country, Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan Ramiz Alakbarov said on Monday.

"We need to have these assets returned to Afghanistan," Alakbarov said. "I know that there are negotiations which are going on about those returns, and I know that the proposals have been made on the specific conditions of how, for instance, the private sector assets to be returned. So, flexibility needs to be exercised on both sides."

Alabakov noted that the United Nations is not part of the negotiations about returning the funds to Afghanistan nor is aware about the details of the talks, he added.

On Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing US officials, that the Biden administration will not release any of the $7 billion in Afghanistan reserves that were in the United States and subsequently frozen.

Washington has halted talks with the Taliban (under UN sanctions for terrorism) in the wake of killing Ayman al-Zawarhi, leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist group (banned in Russia).

The US froze the Afghanistan government reserves after the Taliban took over the country in August 2021.

In February, US President Joe Biden signed an executive order to allow the $7 billion to be split between a humanitarian trust and compensation for the families of victims of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks against the United States.