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Putin calls for unfreezing of Afghan money, compensation for harm during years of occupation

13 October 2022 10:39 (UTC +04:00)

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized that the situation in Afghanistan remains one of the most pressing global security challenges, APA's Moscow correspondent reports.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for the unfreezing of Afghan assets and compensation for harm done during the years of occupation.

Speaking at the sixth summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Astana on Thursday, Putin said that “to normalize the situation on the territory of Afghanistan, of course, it is necessary to jointly promote its economic growth."

“But first of all, we strongly urge [the US] to compensate for the damage caused to the Afghans during the years of occupation and unfreeze the illegally blocked Afghan funds,” Putin stressed.

He expressed regret over the fact that Afghanistan “remains one of the most pressing security challenges for our region.”

“[My] colleagues already spoke about this today. After more than 20 years of the US and NATO military presence and the failure of their policies, the country has turned out to be unable to independently solve problems related to terrorist threats,” the Russian president said.

He added that in order to improve the security situation in Afghanistan, it would be useful to turn to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and its regional antiterrorist structures. Speaking of terrorism, Putin recalled the explosion at the Russian embassy in Kabul and a series of "continuous bloody terrorist attacks” in Afghanistan.

In February, US President Joe Biden signed an executive order to freeze $7 billion worth of Afghan Central Bank assets held by US lender organizations.