Washington: The United Nations has welcomed the United States’ willingness to find ways to ensure liquidity into Afghanistan’s economy.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price said the United States is cooperating with the United Nations to find ways to deliver aid in Afghanistan and ensure liquidity in the country’s economy.
“We welcome the willingness of the US to find ways to ensure liquidity in Afghanistan’s economy,” UN spokesperson Farhan Haq told Sputnik on Monday.
The United States believes that Afghanistan is experiencing an acute humanitarian crisis that was preexisting before the US withdrawal in August and has become worse since then, Price said.
During a press briefing, Price said: “We are working with various UN bodies, including the UNDP to find creative ways that we can infuse not only humanitarian aid but also liquidity into the Afghan economy. “
The United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, on Monday said that Afghanistan’s economy is in “free fall”.
He was addressing the 17th Extraordinary Session of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers in Islamabad.
Since the takeover in mid-August by the Taliban (under UN sanctions over terrorist activities), the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have suspended financial aid which previously accounted for nearly 75% of Afghanistan’s public expenditure, while the United States froze billions of dollars in assets belonging to the Afghan Central Bank.
Addressing the OIC briefing, Afghanistan’s acting foreign minister Amir Khan Motaqi urged the United States must unfreeze billions of dollars of Afghanistan as the country desperately needs cash.