The Foreign Ministry of the Islamic Emirate welcomed the open letter to US President Joe Biden and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen from 64 Representatives in the US Congress. The letter, which was sent earlier in the week, called for easing restrictions to access frozen funds belonging to Afghanistan's central bank, and also easing sanctions.  

The 46 Congress members, mostly Democrats, called for "conscientiously but urgently modifying current US policy regarding the freeze of Afghanistan's foreign reserves and ongoing sanctions."

The letter stated: "We are deeply concerned by the continued US freeze of Afghanistan’s foreign reserves, the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s choice to deny Afghanistan access to special reserve assets intended to help developing countries alleviate the impact of the pandemic, and US sanctions’ impacts on Afghanistan. The US confiscation of $9.4 billion in Afghanistan’s currency reserves held in the United States is contributing to soaring inflation and the shuttering of commercial banks and vital private businesses, plunging the country — which relies overwhelmingly on imports that require hard currency — deeper into economic and humanitarian crisis."

The letter said the released funds would be critical for Afghan business people to purchase imports: "By denying international reserves to Afghanistan’s private sector—including more than $7 billion belonging to Afghanistan and deposited at the Federal Reserve—the US government is impacting the general population."  

The letter said the forecast human toll of the economic situation is dire. "We fear, as aid groups do, that maintaining this policy could cause more civilian deaths in the coming year than were lost in 20 years of war."

The letter urged President Joe Biden to consider the proposals supported by private sector associations such as the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment and the Afghanistan Banks Association to quickly ease restrictions on the country’s access to reserves.

"Current and former Afghan central bank officials appointed by the US-supported government advocate for providing Afghanistan's central bank access to hard currency reserves. We urge you to consider these proposals, supported by private sector associations such as the Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Investment and the Afghanistan Banks Association, to quickly ease restrictions on the country’s access to reserves. We also urge you to work with the IMF to similarly allow access to the emergency financing that was recently allocated for Afghanistan."

Citing United Nations findings, the representatives said that millions of Afghan people could run out of food during the winter and 95% of Afghan households are currently not consuming enough food. Afghanistan will face universal poverty before the middle of next year and the poverty rate is expected to rise from 72% to 98%, the letter said, quoting reports from international organizations. 

The United States's confiscation of $9.4 billion in Afghanistan’s currency reserve is "contributing to soaring inflation and the shuttering of commercial banks and other private business," and "these punitive economic policies will not weaken the Taliban leader, while such measures will only harm the innocent Afghans who have already suffered decades of war end poverty."

The Congress members confirmed that the "Taliban’s authority presents serious challenges to human rights, including the rights of women and girls and protection of these rights must be among our very highest priorities."

The letter expressed appreciation for the direct talks of US and Taliban leaders in Doha, saying such talks will influence "Taliban" behavior and protect both vulnerable Afghans and US interests.