President Joe Biden signed an executive order allowing $7 billion in frozen assets from Afghanistan’s central bank to eventually be distributed inside the country and to potentially fund litigation brought by families of victims of the September 11 terror attacks, senior administration officials confirmed.
Pakistan’s official stance is given as:
“Pakistan has seen the U.S. decision to unfreeze the Afghan assets held by the U.S. banks to release $3.5 billion for humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan and $3.5 billion for compensation to families of 9/11 victims.
Over the past several months, Pakistan has been consistently emphasizing the need for the 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. Finding ways to unfreeze the Afghan foreign reserves urgently would help address the humanitarian and economic needs of the Afghan people.
Pakistan’s principled position on the frozen Afghan foreign bank reserves remains that these are owned by the Afghan nation and these should be released. The utilization of Afghan funds should be the sovereign decision of Afghanistan.
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. Time is of the essence.”
It is worth mentioning that Afghanistan has a population of around 40 million, out of which 95% are living under the poverty line. Whereas, half of it is starving. The situation is worsened with severe winter too.
Although Afghanistan was under war for almost four decades, out of which, two decades were under US-imposed war. As a matter of fact, since 2001, Afghanistan was ruled by the US through its frontman like Hamid Karzai or Ashraf Ghani – puppets.
The US has been claiming to spend Two Trillion US dollars in Afghanistan over a period of two decades almost. Was this money spent to kill innocent Afghans only, or to destroy Infrastructure and the country only???.
Was this money spent to construct the country, boost the economy, build infrastructure, or spend on education, health, developments, Afghanistan should not have the fate of what we have seen today.
The current disastrous situation was man-made as while the US withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan, has frozen Afghan assets, which has caused a total disaster for the newly established Taliban Government. Taliban are ruling the country since August 15, almost six months, but, The US ruled for twenty years, the real cause of the disaster was US rule, not the Taliban rule. If the US is held responsible for such severe damage to Afghanistan, it should compensate too. It is not a new demand, but, in history, there is precedence like Germany and Japan paying for war crimes and war damages as compensation. The US should have the moral courage to pay for its war crimes and war damages to Afghanistan. International Community may pursue the US for its moral obligation.
Contrarily, US president Joe Biden’s decision to divert Afghan frozen assets partially to compensate 9/11 victims has no legal grounds and is irrational totally.
There was no Afghan national allegedly involved in the 9/11 incident. There is no concrete evidence of Afghans’ involvement. There is no judicial inquiry leading to held Afghans responsible for 9/11. There is no justification to use Afghan money for American victims of 9/11.
While Afghans are starving and facing huge challenges and their money is diverted to Americans is beyond understanding. While the international community is asking for humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan, President Joe Biden diverted their money for Americans, is not digested by the international community, there is severe criticism on this act and strongly demanding the reversion of this decision. Afghan funds must be utilized by Afghans only.
Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem also criticized the United States for not unfreezing all the funds to Afghanistan.
“Stealing the blocked funds of Afghan nation by the United States of America and its seizure (of those funds) shows the lowest level of humanity … of a country and a nation,” Naeem tweeted.
