KABUL, 04 March 2022, (TON): The participants of the UN Security Council at Wednesday's meeting on Afghanistan expressed concerns over the collapse of the Afghan economy. 

The UN Secretary-General’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons, said that the reconstitution of the Afghan economy needs international community engagement with the current Afghan government.

Lyons said “but other challenges to reviving the economy still remain. These include the collapse of demand due to cessation of all development assistance, restrictions on international payments, lack of access to hard currency reserves, lack of liquidity, and constraints on the Central Bank to carry out some of its core functions.”

The envoys of China and the US have engaged in a verbal dispute with the Chinese envoy accusing the US of stealing Afghan assets. 

The Chinese envoy at the meeting expressed criticism over US President Joe Biden’s decision to divert $3.5 billion of Afghan assets to be available to the victims of 9/11. He also called for the removal of financial sanctions on Afghanistan.