Abdul Latif Nazari, the Deputy Minister of Economy, told Russia's Sputnik news agency that in response to international banking and political sanctions, the Islamic Emirate is working to create joint banks with regional countries to reduce the impact of these sanctions.

He added that negotiations to establish such banks are underway with Russia, China, and Iran.

“We are trying to solve this problem by establishing joint banks with countries that have good relations with us and are not participating in the political sanctions against Afghanistan. This will enable banking transactions between us and these countries, facilitate money transfers for our traders, and integrate Afghan banks with the region,” Abdul Latif Nazari said.

According to Nazari, the Islamic Emirate is ready to play an active role in regional economic reconstruction through an economy-focused policy.

He pointed to increasing economic, political, and trade ties between Kabul and Moscow, and urged Russia to collaborate with Afghanistan in rebuilding infrastructure.

Nazari further added: “We want to rebuild and strengthen Afghanistan’s infrastructure. Of course, we need help from Afghanistan’s friendly countries like Russia, and we hope that these collaborations will enable that, since much of Afghanistan’s infrastructure resulted from Russian activities.”

He also noted that insecurity during the previous government was the biggest obstacle to advancing the TAPI pipeline project in Afghanistan, but emphasized that this barrier is now removed and there are no challenges to pushing the TAPI project forward on Afghan soil.

He highlighted that the main remaining hurdles for the project are due to regional geopolitical competition.

The deputy minister said: “In the past, the insecurity in Afghanistan during the so-called republic era was the biggest obstacle. Right now, all barriers have been removed, and the Emirate's officials have the will and motivation to complete this project.”

Finally, the deputy minister warned that the recent conflict between Iran and Israel could adversely affect Afghanistan’s trade with Iran, even as trade volume between Kabul and Tehran had been planned to rise to ten billion dollars.