Biden Reveals Hidden Annexes of Doha Deal, Taliban US’ Wagner group, Says Nabil

In an interview with Afghanistan International, Ahady said that Afghanistan's assets have been transferred to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) which provides five percent profit annually.

According to the former finance minister of Afghanistan, over $100 million in profit has been obtained during 2022. Ahady added that if this fund would be kept in the BIS, it will earn more than one hundred million dollars annually.

Ahady said that the Taliban can use the Swiss-based trust fund for printing Afghani banknotes and passports, but the group has not made such requests yet.

He also said that Afghanistan is a member of organisations such as the Asian Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank and should pay membership fees to these organisations.

Ahady added that the Taliban paid the membership fees for Afghanistan last year, however, the group has not paid these fees for 2023. He said that in return for paying the membership fees, these organisations will provide humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.

Ahady added that if the Taliban does not agree to pay the membership fee of international organisations, the Swiss-based trust fund may pay these fees.

The supervisory member of the ‘Fund for the Afghan People’ added that the frozen reserves of Afghanistan in Switzerland are not used for humanitarian aid in Afghanistan. According to him, this will be spent only for some necessary purposes related to government spending. However, he stressed that the trust fund will not provide money directly to the Taliban and will pay related organisations for projects that are "for the benefit of the people".

In September 2022, the United States announced that it would transfer 3.5 billion dollars of the reserves of the Central Bank of Afghanistan to a trust fund in Switzerland to be used to help the Afghan economy.

The Taliban have repeatedly demanded that Afghanistan's Central Bank reserves must be given to the group.

The Ministry of Higher Education of the Taliban on Saturday said that during Irfan’s visit to Iran, he met the officials of the Diplomacy Center of the Islamic Republic.

Irfan told the Iranian authorities that cooperation in higher education is more favourable under the Taliban than during the previous Afghan government.

It is said that the officials of Iran's diplomacy center committed to cooperating with the Taliban in higher education.

The Taliban officials discuss cooperation arrangements with regional countries such as Iran on higher education, while there is no development on when the group will allow higher education for Afghan girls and women in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, secondary and higher secondary schools remain closed for Afghan girls despite international pressure on the Taliban to allow Afghan girls their right to education.

During a press conference, Biden said on Friday, "Remember what I said about Afghanistan? I said Al-Qaeda would not be there. I said it wouldn’t be there. I said we would get help from the Taliban. What is going on? Read your press. I was right."

Former US Special Envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, said that Biden's comments on Afghanistan might have come based on a recently declassified National Intelligence Council (NIC) assessment.

Khalilzad, who shared Biden's comments on his Twitter account on Friday night, said that the NIC assessment said that Al-Qaeda has little infrastructure in place in Afghanistan.

Khalilzad added that according to NIC’s report, Al-Qaeda is unlikely to reconstitute the capability in Afghanistan to direct external operations from the country through 2024.

The former US envoy also stressed that according to NIC assessment, if Al-Qaeda decides to carry out attacks globally, it can rely on the attack capabilities of its affiliates in the Middle East and Africa.

However, the UN Security Council has recently warned in a report about the emergence of Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups in Afghanistan.

Vahidi added that Iran’s border security would be partially ensured by intelligent management systems.

Over the past two years, the Taliban and the Islamic Republic of Iran have had several border skirmishes at the joint borders between Afghanistan and Iran. In the latest case in June, Taliban forces and Iranian border guards clashed in the Kang area of Nimroz province. During this border skirmish, a member of the Taliban and two soldiers of the Islamic Republic had been killed.

However, the Iranian interior minister stressed that the border situation is regularly discussed with the Taliban.

He said, "We will certainly welcome any software and hardware equipment for the improvement of border security."

However, Vahidi said that currently "the situation of the joint borders with Afghanistan is calm and we do not have any problems with the Taliban”.

The Taliban released a photo of what appears to be a public reception by Bin Salman, saying that Mullah Yaqoob met the Saudi Crown Prince.

According to the Saudi Press Agency, among high-ranking foreign officials, the Saudi Crown Prince hosted the King of Malaysia, and the presidents of Pakistan, Senegal, and Bangladesh and shook hands with them.

Meanwhile, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid posted a photo of a handshake of the Taliban defence minister with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia on Twitter and said that Mullah Yaqoob "met with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, during the Hajj trip”.

It is not clear whether the Taliban's defence minister was invited to Bin Salman's annual meet or not. The Saudi Press Agency did not mention details about the participation of the Taliban officials at the reception too.

Saudi Arabia is one of the most powerful Islamic countries which has not yet recognised the Taliban government. However, it seems that the Taliban spokesperson wanted to show that the group's defence minister was received in Saudi Arabia like other foreign officials by publishing the photo of Mullah Yaqoob shaking hands with Mohammed Bin Salman.