Afghanistan

25 Feb 2022; MEMO: The Taliban-led interim government in Afghanistan, on Friday, called for restraint amid Russia's intervention in Ukraine, stressing that Kabul's foreign policy is that of "neutrality", Anadolu News Agency reports.

"All sides need to desist from taking positions that could intensify violence," said Abdul Qahar Balkhi, spokesperson for the Afghan Foreign Ministry.

JALALABAD, Afghanistan, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- Scores of disabled persons staged a protest in Jalalabad, capital of Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar Province on Tuesday, urging the United States to return Afghan assets.

The protesters described the freeze of Afghanistan's assets in U.S. banks or giving them as compensation to the families of the 9/11 terrorist attacks victims as "unjust", saying that Washington should return the assets to Afghanistan.

21 Feb 2022; MEMO: A total of 750 tons of emergency relief goods sent by "charity train" from Turkiye to Afghanistan was delivered to the capital, Kabul, on Monday, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Coordinated by Turkiye's state-run Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) and with the support of Turkish NGOs, medical aid packages were delivered to the Health Ministry of the interim Afghan administration in a ceremony.

KABUL, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Afghanistan Chamber of Industries and Mines has described the recent decision of U.S. President Joe Biden on Afghanistan's frozen assets as unjust, and called for the return of the assets.

"On behalf of 5,000 factories and hundreds of mine extracting companies, I today describe the recent decision of President Biden as unjust and stealing our national assets and we denounce it," acting chairman of the association Al-Hajj Sakhi Ahmad Paiman told reporters.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Fear accompanies reporter Banafsha Binesh from the moment she leaves her Kabul home each morning for the newsroom at Afghanistan’s largest television station.

It starts with the Taliban fighters, who roam the streets of the capital with weapons slung over their shoulders. Binesh, 27, says she is frightened by their reputation of harshness toward women, rather than any unsavory encounter.

Dread and uncertainty mount with every new report of a fellow journalist having been detained, interrogated or beaten by Taliban fighters.

KABUL, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of Afghans came to the street in the capital Kabul on Tuesday, condemning the recent U.S. decision regarding the frozen Afghan assets as unjust and open stealing, and calling on Washington to return the assets of more than 9 billion U.S. dollars to the war-torn country.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan has undergone a dramatic transformation in half a year of Taliban rule.

The country feels safer, less violent than it has in decades, but the once aid-fueled economy is barreling toward collapse. Tens of thousands of Afghans have fled or have been evacuated, including large numbers of educated elites. They either fear for their economic future or lack of freedom under a group that ascribes to a strict interpretation of Islam. During its previous rule in the late 1990s, the Taliban barred girls from school and women from work.

14 Feb 2022; MEMO: The Taliban, on Monday, warned that it would reconsider its policy towards the United States if President Joe Biden did not reverse his "unjustified" decision to return only half of Afghanistan's $7 billion deposited on US soil, Reuters reports.

KABUL, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan has received 64 million U.S. dollars recently in humanitarian cash assistance, the country's central bank said Monday.

"Following a series of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, today, Feb. 14, the 14th shipment of humanitarian aid of 32 million U.S. dollars reached Afghanistan and delivered to the Afghanistan International Bank (AIB)," Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) wrote on Twitter.

On Sunday, the DAB also received 32 million U.S. dollars in assistance and delivered the cash to AIB, the bank said.

KABUL, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Washington's decision on splitting frozen Afghan assets in the United States has sparked an outcry among ordinary Afghans who believe the verdict would exacerbate the already dire humanitarian crisis.

U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Friday to free 7 billion U.S. dollars out of more than 9 billion frozen Afghan assets, splitting the money between humanitarian aid for cash-strapped Afghanistan and a fund for 9/11 victims.