U.S. unblocks Afghan Central Bank assets

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Bush administration has released millions of dollars of Afghan assets that had been frozen during the Taliban regime, a move it hopes will help the new government in Afghanistan, senior administration officials said.

Wednesday evening, the Treasury Department signed a license authorizing the Federal Reserve to unblock about $193 million in gold and $24 million in cash and other assets of the Afghan Central Bank. The gold, cash and assets have been held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the officials said.

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The funds were blocked under a 1999 executive order that ordered the freezing of all assets associated with the Taliban.

"These funds will now be available to help stabilize the Afghan economy, strengthen the operations of the central bank and shape a better future for the people of Afghanistan," Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said in a statement.

The move makes the interim Afghan administration the signatories of all of the frozen assets in the United States. Last week the U.N. Security Council voted to remove sanctions imposed on the Afghan Central Bank.

The officials said the release of the assets in the United States did not come immediately after the Afghan interim authority took office last month because Secretary of State Colin Powell had to certify that the new government was legitimate.

The Taliban regime was never recognized as a legitimate government by the United States. It has been ousted from power during the U.S.-led war against terrorism.