At the moment, Washington is seriously concerned about its military presence in the territory of Afghanistan. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said this on Monday during a working meeting with the heads of the Russian media.
"By the way, the Americans have not built a single industrial enterprise in Afghanistan over these 20 years. The poverty of this country has been further exacerbated by the fact that about $10 billion left over from the last government [the US] has taken away and is not going to give it back or will give it back if the Taliban allow the Americans to have a military presence on their territory again. Washington is now seriously concerned about this," Lavrov said.
On April 14, 2021, US President Joe Biden announced the end of the operation in Afghanistan, which became the longest foreign military campaign in American history. On August 15 of that year, the Taliban entered Kabul without a fight and took control of the city within hours.
In August 2021, after the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, Washington blocked the country's assets held in US banks. On February 11, 2022, US President Joe Biden signed an executive order that about $3.5 billion of those funds will be transferred as aid to the people of Afghanistan through a special fund at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Most of the frozen funds will be reserved for compensation claims in US courts by relatives of victims of terrorist attacks, including September 11, 2001.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on materials from TASS