China backs Taliban's demand to US to unfreeze Afghanistan's assets

China on Wednesday supported the Taliban's demand that the US should unfreeze Afghanistan's assets and said that America has no legitimate reasons to do so as the Chinese envoy to Kabul called on acting Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and congratulated the interim government.

According to reports from Washington, the US has frozen about USD 9.5 billion in assets belonging to Afghanistan's central bank and stopped shipments of cash to Kabul, in a bid to keep the Taliban government from accessing the money.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters here that the US has no legitimate reasons to freeze Afghanistan's assets.

Asked about the Taliban's demand that the US should unfreeze Afghanistan's assets stating that they belong to the people of Afghanistan and the interim government will take a legal action possible to get the funds released, Zhao said: I think that the (Taliban's) spokesperson is right.

The assets belong to Afghanistan and should be spent for the Afghan people.

The US should not freeze them without justification. The US should face up to the legitimate demand of Afghanistan, abandon pressures and sanctions and stop creating obstacles to the economy, livelihood and peace and reconstruction in Afghanistan, Zhao said.

After the Taliban's seizure of power in Afghanistan last month, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank halted their aid to the war-torn country which largely depends upon the flow of foreign funds.

According to reports from Kabul, Afghanistan's economy is near collapse even as the United Nations has made hectic efforts to galvanise global efforts to rush food and essential supplies.

Meanwhile, in a major boost to the Taliban's fledgling interim government which struggled to gain international recognition as it mainly comprises the Taliban leaders, contrary to its promise of forming an inclusive government, China's Ambassador in Kabul Wang Yu met acting Afghan Foreign Minister Muttaqi on Tuesday.

"This afternoon, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi met with the Ambassador of the neighbouring China Wang Yu in Kabul," Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem said in a tweet, adding that the Chinese ambassador congratulated the new Afghan government".

Wang also promised that "China will continue its humanitarian, economic and political cooperation with Afghanistan," Russia's official news agency TASS quoted Naeem as saying.