Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi met with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk in Moscow to discuss expanding political and economic cooperation between the two countries.

The talks focused on strengthening trade, transit, regional connectivity and energy cooperation, as well as investment and other areas of mutual interest, Afghan foreign ministry said in a statement.

Muttaqi highlighted the positive trajectory of political relations between Kabul and Moscow and thanked the Russian leadership for what he described as its positive policy toward Afghanistan.

He said the existing political understanding should be translated into practical economic partnerships, stressing the need to expand trade and transit, attract Russian investment to Afghanistan, cooperate in energy and mining, and facilitate banking and payment mechanisms between the two countries.

Overchuk expressed Russia’s readiness to expand economic cooperation with Afghanistan, saying conditions are now in place for launching practical cooperation.

He also stressed the importance of expanding joint work in transit, transport, energy and other sectors, while pointing to a significant increase in bilateral trade last year. He expressed hope that further practical economic cooperation between the two countries would develop in the near future.

The attorneys general of 30 US states have asked the US Supreme Court to review a case involving around $3.5 billion in frozen assets of Da Afghanistan Bank that victims and families of the September 11 attacks are seeking to use for compensation.

The Iowa Attorney General’s Office said in a statement on Monday that the states filed a brief with the Supreme Court in support of the victims and their families, who have obtained compensation judgments in US federal courts.

According to the office, after years of legal proceedings, the victims and their families have secured nearly $17 billion in court-ordered compensation.

However, the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that around $3.5 billion in assets belonging to Afghanistan’s central bank cannot be used to satisfy those compensation awards.

The assets were frozen by the U.S. Treasury Department on August 15, 2021, the day the Islamic Emirate entered Kabul.

The state attorneys general argue that US law allows the frozen assets to be used to satisfy court-ordered compensation.

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird said the victims and their families had pursued justice and compensation through the US legal system and should be able to access the money awarded to them by the courts.

This comes as the Islamic Emirate has repeatedly called for the release of Da Afghanistan Bank assets.

Ariana Afghan Airlines has ended a nearly 15-year arrangement under which a Pakistani company, Zapways, controlled the airline’s ticketing, operational systems and website, the airline said.

Ariana’s press office said Zapways had managed the airline’s ticketing and operational systems for years despite charging high fees. It added that technical information and data related to the systems were also held by the Pakistani company.

The airline said it has now launched a new system in cooperation with a Turkish company whose modern and standardized services are used by more than 80 international airlines across Europe, Asia and Africa.