Moscow speaks against freeze on Afghanistan's int'l reserves

MOSCOW. Aug 30 (Interfax) - Moscow speaks against a freeze on Afghanistan's international reserves and proposes the opening of humanitarian corridors for the delivery of aid to the Afghan population, Russian Special Presidential Representative, Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Second Asian Department Zamir Kabulov said.

"If our Western colleagues really care about the future of the Afghan people, they should not create additional problems for those people, such as a freeze on international reserves of the Afghan state kept in banks of the United States. Instead, they should open humanitarian corridors for the delivery of aid to the population, i.e., they should not create an additional incentive for people to flee the country," Kabulov said on the Rossiya-24 television channel (VGTRK).

Unless that is done and if the tactics of pressure are chosen instead, this will result in further growth of opiate exports and the emergence of abandoned U.S. weapons on the black market, he said.