Afghanistan acting foreign minister urges international donors to restart aid

Taliban government seeks to shore up the finances of the country which heavily depends on external assistance

Kabul: Afghanistan`s acting foreign minister called on Tuesday for international donors to restart aid, as the Taliban government seeks to shore up the finances of a country heavily reliant on external assistance after 40 years of near-continuous war.

Following the insurgent Taliban`s return to power after sweeping away government forces last month, a majority of international donors have frozen aid.

"Afghanistan is a war-hit country and it needs the international community`s assistance in different sectors, especially education, health, and development," Amir Khan Muttaqi told a news conference in the capital Kabul.

"Projects that are incomplete need to be completed in order to avoid waste of resources," he added, also calling for more assistance from multilateral donors including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and Islamic Development Bank.