Some Afghan traders living abroad said current problems caused by the banking system and international sanctions, as well as the closed girls’ schools, are causing obstacles to investment in Afghanistan.

Obaidullah Sadar Khail, head of the Afghan trader council in the UAE, told TOLOnews in a special TV program that the problems in the banking system that began nine months ago have still not been solved.

“The banking system is important for the traders and over the past nine months, this problem has not been solved,” he said.

“There are banking problems. The former government is around 1 billion Afs in debt to our traders,” said Maroud Zafar, head of the chicken farming union.

Meanwhile, the acting Minister of Commerce and Industry, Nooruddin Azizi, said that there will be good news about reopening girls’ school above grade six. However, he said that the problems in the banking system have been imposed on Afghanistan.

“The US said the license would solve our banking issues, but we still have problems. After the tensions between Russia and Ukraine, our problems stepped up,” he said.

“To engage with the world, it depends on the world. We don’t have any problem with anyone. The Islamic Emirate pledged there would be no threat to anyone and there should be no threat from anyone toward Afghanistan” he said.

The head of the Afghan trader council in the UAE also said that if the international sanctions are lifted on Afghanistan, many Afghan investors will seek to invest in Afghanistan.

“When our new government is under sanctions and no one recognizes it--no one recognizes its companies, and foreign companies don’t deal with them… The new government must work on how to engage with the international community,” Obaidullah Sadar Khail said.

Many Afghan traders have invested millions of dollars abroad. Based on available numbers, more than $10 billion has been invested by Afghan traders in UAE.