US decides to keep half
\n\u201cUtilisation of Afghan funds should be sovereign decision of Afghanistan,\u201d says FO spokesperson Asim Iftikhar
\n ISLAMABAD
\nPakistan has called for the complete unfreezing of Afghanistan\u2019s assets after the Joe Biden-led administration in the United States decided to keep half of the $7 billion Afghan assets in the country.
\nBiden on Friday signed an executive order to deal with the threat of an economic collapse in Afghanistan, setting wheels in motion for a complex resolution of competing interests in the country\u2019s assets.
\nThe United States is seeking to free up half of the $7 billion in frozen Afghan central bank assets on US soil to help the Afghan people while holding the rest to possibly satisfy terrorism-related lawsuits against the Taliban, the White House said.
\nIn a statement on Saturday, Foreign Office spokesperson Asim Iftikhar said Pakistan had seen the US decision to release $3.5 billion for humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan and $3.5 billion for compensation to families of 9\/11 victims.
\n\u201cOver the past several months, Pakistan has been consistently emphasising the need for international community to quickly act to address the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan and to help revive the Afghan economy, as the two are inextricably linked,\u201d the spokesperson said.
\n\u2018Time is of the essence\u2019
\nIftikhar added that finding ways to unfreeze the Afghan foreign reserves urgently would help address the humanitarian and economic needs of the Afghan people.
\nHe said Islamabad\u2019s principled position on the frozen Afghan foreign bank reserves remains that these are owned by the Afghan nation and these should be released.
\n\u201cThe utilisation of Afghan funds should be the sovereign decision of Afghanistan,\u201d he said.
\nThe spokesperson highlighted that the Afghan people are facing grave economic and humanitarian challenges and the international community must continue to play its important and constructive role in alleviating their sufferings.
\n\u201cTime is of the essence.\u201d
\nThe multi-step plan to release funds calls for half of the funds to remain in the United States, subject to ongoing litigation by US victims of terrorism, including relatives of those who died in the September 11, 2001, hijacking attacks, the officials said.
\nSenior US administration officials said they would work to ensure access to $3.5 billion of the assets \u2014 which stem mainly from aid to Afghanistan over the past two decades \u2014 to benefit the Afghan people.
\nThey said Washington would set up a third-party trust to administer the funds for which details were still being worked out.
\nTaliban call for unfreezing assets
\nWashington froze the Afghan funds after the Taliban\u2019s military takeover but has faced pressure to find a way to release the money without recognising the new administration, which says it is theirs.
\nSuhail Shaheen, the Taliban\u2019s designated representative to the UN, called for the entire amount to be unfrozen and kept under the control of the Afghan central bank.
\n\u201cThe reserve is the property of Da Afghanistan Bank and by extension, the property of the people of Afghanistan,\u201d Shaheen told Reuters.
\nThe spokesman of the Taliban\u2019s Doha office blasted the US move in a tweet: \u201cStealing and takeover of frozen money which belongs to the Afghan people by US shows the lowest level of human and moral decline of a country.\u201d
\n\u2018Injustice\u2019
\n, Afghanistan\u2019s central bank criticised Washington\u2019s plan to use half the bank\u2019s $7 billion in frozen assets on US soil.
\nDa Afghanistan Bank (DAB) criticised the decision, saying its assets had been invested in the United States in line with international practices, and belonged to the people of Afghanistan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
US decides to keep half \u201cUtilisation of Afghan funds should be sovereign decision of Afghanistan,\u201d says FO spokesperson Asim Iftikhar ISLAMABAD Pakistan has called for the complete unfreezing of Afghanistan\u2019s assets after the Joe Biden-led administration in the United States decided to keep half of the $7 billion Afghan assets in the country. Biden on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244120,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[75,572,20,4024,444],"class_list":{"0":"post-244091","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news","8":"tag-afghanistan","9":"tag-assets","10":"tag-pakistan","11":"tag-release","12":"tag-us"},"yoast_head":"\n