OREANDA-NEWS  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."

He expressed regret over the fact that Afghanistan “remains one of the most pressing security challenges for our region.”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.The Taliban* took power in Afghanistan in August, 2021, triggering the collapse of the US-backed government and accelerating the American troop pullout. On August 31, 2021, US forces completed their withdrawal from the South Asian country, ending their 20-year-long military presence there.

* the group under UN sanctions for terrorist activity