PESHAWAR (Pajhwok): Pakistan has stressed the release of all Afghan reserves, questioning US President Joe Biden’s decision on earmarking half of the $7 billion amount for American victims of 9/11 attacks.
Late on Friday, the US leader signed an executive order to deal with the threat of a looming economic collapse in Afghanistan.
Under Biden’s order, the US will free up half of the $7 billion in frozen Afghan central bank assets to help the Afghan people while holding the rest to possibly satisfy terrorism-related lawsuits against the Taliban.
In Islamabad, Foreign Office spokesperson Asim Iftikhar said Pakistan had seen the US decision to release $3.5 billion for humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan and as much for compensation to families of 9/11 victims.
He added: “Over the past several months, Pakistan has been consistently emphasising the need for the international community to quickly act to address the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan…”
Islamabad is also asking the global fraternity to help revive Afghanistan’s economy, hit by decades of conflict.
Finding ways to unfreeze the Afghan foreign reserves urgently would help address the humanitarian and economic needs of the Afghans, the spokesman believed
Islamabad’s position on the frozen reserves remains that these are owned by the Afghan nation and should be released, according to Iftikhar.
“The utilisation of Afghan funds should be the sovereign decision of Afghanistan,” said the spokesman, who referred to the grave challenges in the neighbouring country.
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