KABUL - A portion of the Kabul Bank (KB), Afghanistan's largest private-sector bank, has been affiliated to the Ministry of Finance, a senior official announced on Wednesday. A safe part of the nation's biggest lender was taken over by the Department of Treasury at the ministry, Da Afghanistan Bank Governor Abdul Qadeer Fitrat told reporters in Kabul.

Last year, reports appeared in the media about the bank losing $300 million due to mismanagement, cronyism and dubious lending. Subsequently, two senior shareholders were removed and the government took the bank's control. On April 11, President Hamid Karzai said foreign advisers shared a huge part of the blame for the crisis and would face criminal investigation.

"Hundreds of millions of dollars have been paid to foreign advisors and institutions to help Afghanistan's banking system, but they failed in their task," the president told reporters.