The Afghan Taliban interim administration has said it would not return leftover arms to the US because they were now state assets of Afghanistan.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi rejected President Donald Trump's offer to release frozen Afghan currency assets in exchange for the return of US military hardware that American troops left behind after the withdrawal from Kabul in 2021.
"States don't give away their assets," Balkhi told CBS News, adding that they now assets of Afghanistan. Balkhi, however, said that Kabul was open for business with all countries, including the US, and those countries could invest in the mineral sector in Afghanistan.
The development follows a recent meeting between Trump's Hostage Affairs Envoy Adam Boehler, who met interim Foreign Minister Maulvi Amir Khan Muttaqi in Afghanistan, marking the first public contact between Washington and Kabul. Boehler was accompanied by former US Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad
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