The United States is unfreezing financial assistance to Afghanistan, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said at a conference in Bonn, Germany. According to her, we are talking about hundreds of millions of dollars. Kommersant FM special correspondent in Germany Alexander Prokopenko told Anna Kazakova the details.

— Do you know how much money the United States is ready to unfreeze for Afghanistan?

- Yes, it is known. We are talking about frozen funds worth approximately $650-700 million. The IMF froze these funds after the scandal that occurred around the Kabul Bank. Last September, it was revealed that the bank had issued almost $900 million in fictitious loans. The money was intended for the bank's shareholders, high-ranking officials, and even the name of President Hamid Karzai's brother Mahmoud appeared among them. So far, about $75 million has been recovered from the missing money.

— Why did the United States take such a step? Why did you decide to defrost?

- In fact, everything is very simple. The United States took advantage of the opportunity, because it is always convenient during such a conference, the conference in Bonn, to declare that Washington is not abandoning Afghanistan, has the means, and is ready to continue to help.

— Tell us, what is the current situation in Bonn? There were reports of unprecedented security measures. Is it so?

- Yes, that's actually true. There are reinforced police cordons around the site of the international conference, patrols with machine guns at almost every intersection, and, according to local residents, they have not seen such a situation for a long time, there are so many law enforcement officers. The measures are unprecedented: one or two helicopters are constantly patrolling the air. Due to security measures, the residents of Beaune suffer first of all, because some cannot go to their place of work, they have to walk several blocks, and there are delays in the metro.

"The US took advantage of the opportunity"