Top Taliban official called the US 'great and big' and asked it to release $10 billion of frozen Afghan reserves

• The US froze around $10 billion of Afghan assets after the Taliban seized control in August.

• Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi told the AP that the economic punishment helps nobody.

• Muttaqi said the US must have "patience" and "a big heart" toward the new Taliban regime.

A senior Taliban official praised the US and asked it to let them access billions of dollars worth of Afghan funds frozen in US banks.

After the Taliban seized control of Kabul on August 15, the US froze close to $10 billion that belonged to the ousted Afghan government in an effort to prevent the Taliban from funding their conquest.

Since then, the Taliban have warned of dire economic consequences and Afghan banks say they are facing a money shortage. The United Nations also warned in October that without financial aid or humanitarian relief, Afghanistan was on a "countdown to catastrophe."

In an interview with the Associated Press published Sunday, Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said the group bore the US no ill will and that Washington should support their new government, including by giving them access to the frozen funds.

"To the American nation: You are a great and big nation and you must have enough patience and have a big heart to dare to make policies on Afghanistan based on international rules and relegation, and to end the differences and make the distance between us shorter," he told the AP.

"America will slowly, slowly change its policy toward Afghanistan."

During the interview, Muttaqi also defended the Taliban's domestic regime, which has been criticized for its use of violence and for quietly removing access to education for many women.

After the fall of Kabul, secondary schools reopened for boys only and, in early December, the acting deputy education minister, Abdul Hakim Hemat, told the BBC that girls would not be able to enter secondary school until 2022.

However, Muttaqi told the AP this shows that the Taliban are making progress. "This shows that we are committed in principle to women participation," he said.

"We have have made progress in administration and in politics ... in interaction with the nation and the world. With each passing day we will gain more experience and make more progress."

The Taliban have been subject to US economic sanctions since 2001 but, on Friday, the Treasury formalized guidelines that let financial aid be sent from America to families in Afghanistan, Reuters reported.

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