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US may examine regaining control of Afghan assets transferred to Swiss-based fund: watchdog

Donald Trump administration may want to examine returning Afghan central bank assets from Swiss-based fund to the custody as part of the current review of foreign assistance, a US watchdog said on Thursday.
In 2022, the US transferred $3.5 billion in Afghan central bank assets previously frozen in the United States to the Swiss-based Fund for the Afghan People.
With accrued interest, the Fund has now grown to nearly $4 billion, the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said in a quarterly report.
According to the report, the US has spent nearly $3.71 billion in Afghanistan since withdrawing from the country in 2021. Most of that money (64.2%) went to UN agencies, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, and the World Bank-administered Afghanistan Resilience Trust Fund. Another $1.2 billion remains available in the funding pipeline for possible disbursement.
SIGAR said that while the assistance may have staved off famine in the face of economic collapse, it has not dissuaded the IEA from taking US citizens hostage, dismantling the rights of women and girls, allowing the country to become a terrorist safe haven.
The watchdog also said that the IEA exert some control over humanitarian activities and have at times required NGOs to sign memoranda of understanding (MOUs) as a condition for operating in Afghanistan.
On January 20, 2025, President Trump ordered a 90-day pause in U.S. foreign development assistance to assess “programmatic efficiencies and consistency with United States foreign policy.” The order requires all department and agency heads responsible for foreign assistance programs to immediately pause new obligations and disbursements of development assistance funds to foreign countries, nongovernmental organizations, international organizations, and contractors.
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Trump says it was ‘stupid’ for Biden administration to abandon arms in Afghanistan

US President Donald Trump said on Friday it was "stupid" for the Biden administration to abandon military equipment worth billions of dollars in Afghanistan.
Trump said at a joint press conference with the Japanese prime minister at the White House on Friday that there was no reason to leave military equipment in Afghanistan.
“I want our military to be the strongest. I also don’t mind spending so much money on the military because we build it here, made in the USA. All made in the USA. I rebuilt our military during my first term, did a great job. We left some of it behind in Afghanistan stupidly. There was no reason for that,” Trump said.
Trump has repeatedly criticized the abandonment of military equipment in Afghanistan.
Trump said before his inauguration last month that future financial aid to Afghanistan would be contingent upon the return of US military equipment.
The Islamic Emirate, however, has said the equipment now belongs to Afghanistan and would not be handed over to the US.
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US Defense Secretary pledges accountability over Afghan war failures

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday promised that there would be accountability for war in Afghanistan, which ended dramatically in 2021 with a chaotic withdrawal after a faster-than-expected collapse of the US-backed government in Kabul.
"We are going to look back at what happened in Afghanistan and hold people accountable -- not to be retrospective, not for retribution, but to understand what went wrong and why there was no accountability for it," Hegseth said addressing an audience at the Pentagon.
He pointed the failed war in Afghanistan, Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Hamas' surprise attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 as events that have eroded the global view of American strength. That, he said, increases risks to global stability.
"Unfortunately, over the last couple of years, we've seen events that have occurred that created the perception, reality or perception, but I would argue more perception, of American weakness," Hegseth said.
"Chaos happens when the perception of American strength is not complete. And so we aim to reestablish that deterrence."
Hegseth said he would travel next week to a NATO gathering of defense ministers in Brussels to deliver a message for them to "step up in their industrial base, in spending."
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Management of Kabul Serena Hotel handed over to German firm

A German company, "Cinderella International Group," has assumed management of the Kabul Serena Hotel as of February 1, AFP reports.
The company has renamed the hotel to "Grand Kabul Hotel" and officially began overseeing its operations at the start of February.
Aaron Azim, CEO of the German firm, confirmed that a 10-year management contract has been signed with the Islamic Emirate for the hotel’s administration.
Azim, who holds dual Afghan-German citizenship, did not disclose the financial value of the contract.
He further shared that his company has been active in Afghanistan for 20 years, focusing primarily on road construction and mining projects.
Previously, the Islamic Emirate announced that the hotel’s management had been handed over to an international firm with substantial expertise in hotel management but withheld the company’s identity.
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