Afghan Acting Foreign Minister Urges Int’l Donors To Restart Aid

Afghanistan’s acting foreign minister on Tuesday called for international donors to restart aid, as the Taliban government seeks to shore up the finances of a country heavily reliant on external assistance.

Following the insurgent Taliban’s return to power after sweeping away government forces last month, a majority of international donors have frozen aid.

Addressing a News Conference in Kabul, Amir Khan Muttaqi said the country is a war-hit country and it needs the international community’s assistance in different sectors, especially education, health and development.

He said Projects that are incomplete need to be completed in order to avoid waste of resources, also calling for more assistance from multilateral donors including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Islamic Development Bank.

After the takeover, the United States froze Afghanistan’s dollar-denominated bank deposits that make up the majority of the central bank’s reserves.

He said the international community should not politicize their assistance to Afghanistan, adding that they helped the US until evacuation of their last person, but unfortunately the US, instead of thanking them, froze their assets.