Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Thursday for Western nations to release Taliban-led Afghanistan’s frozen funds. “We call insistently for compensation for the losses incurred by Afghans during the years of occupation and for the release of illegally frozen Afghan funds,” Putin said at a conference in the Kazakh capital Astana. “In order to calm the situation on Afghan soil, we must, of course, jointly contribute to its economic recovery.” Afghanistan’s central bank had more than $9 billion in assets deposited at banks in the United States and Europe when the Taliban seized control of…