The administration of US President Joe Biden will continue negotiations to release billions of dollars from Afghanistan's foreign assets, Reuters reported, citing sources.

The decision to continue with the initiative to stabilize Afghanistan's collapsed economy highlights Washington's growing concern about the humanitarian crisis, as the United Nations warns that nearly half of the country's 40 million people are facing acute hunger as winter approaches.

At the heart of the US-led effort is a plan to move billions of Afghan central bank foreign-owned assets into a proposed trust fund in Switzerland. Payments will be made with the help of an international council, bypassing the Taliban, many of whose leaders are under US and UN sanctions.

The Taliban presented a counterproposal at the talks in Doha at the end of June.

State Department and Treasury Department officials told independent analysts at a briefing on August 11 — 12 days after al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in a CIA drone strike — that negotiations should continue despite dissatisfaction with their pace.

According to one source, the Taliban and the Afghan central bank, known by the initials DAB, are moving slowly, a US official said.