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National security adviser Jake Sullivan says U.S. President Joe Biden has not spoken with any of his fellow world leaders since Kabul fell to the Taliban. Sullivan told reporters Tuesday that he, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and several other senior members of Biden's team have been communicating with foreign counterparts and planned to continue that in the coming days.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters that the administration's focus was currently on the evacuation process for thousands of Americans and Afghan allies from Kabul.
The sudden need to evacuate Westerners and Afghans who aided Western forces caught U.S. officials by surprise and it also has sparked fears in Europe of another influx of refugees.
The Washington Post is reporting that the Biden administration on Sunday froze Afghan government reserves held in U.S. bank accounts, blocking the Taliban from accessing billions of dollars held in U.S. institutions.
The Post cites as its sources two people familiar with the matter. The sources told The Post the decision was made by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control.
The Post notes that Afghanistan is already one of the poorest countries in the world and is highly dependent on American aid. Taliban control of the country is likely to complicate the delivery of that aid to Afghan civilians, especially if the Taliban has no access to the U.S. funding provided to the Afghan government.
Malaysia's king has begun the process of selecting a new prime minister to succeed Muhyiddin Yassin and lead the country out of a political crisis.
King Abdullah summoned the leaders of six political parties to the royal palace Tuesday, including the longtime opposition leader.
The king also called on all lawmakers in the 222-seat parliament to submit the name of the person they'd like to see become prime minister.
