ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Saturday the people of Afghanistan were unhappy with the United States for equally splitting their frozen assets worth $7 billion between humanitarian assistance for their country and families of the victims of the September 11 attacks.
US President Joe Biden on Friday asked banks in his country to release $3.5 billion of Afghanistan’s frozen assets to help the people of the war-battered country, as the White House said in a statement the order was designed to help ordinary Afghans while keeping the funds “out of the hands of the Taliban and malicious actors.”
The US and other members of the world community do not recognize Afghanistan’s new rulers who captured Kabul in August 2021 when the international forces and aid workers were still pulling out of the country.
The US president decided to use the other half of the frozen Afghan financial reserves in his country to provide monetary compensation to the families of 9/11 victims who filed claims against the Taliban in US courts.
“The people of Afghanistan have reservations about the US decision,” Qureshi said in a statement while reacting to the development. “They say this is their money and the US should leave it to their discretion how they want to use it.”
The foreign minister recalled that Pakistan had been urging the international community to quickly address the ongoing humanitarian situation in Afghanistan by unfreezing the Afghan financial reserves.
He added the same demand was also made by the extraordinary meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s Council of Foreign Ministers in Islamabad on December 19.
Afghanistan has been facing an economic meltdown since the Taliban captured Kabul and consolidated its control across the country. Much of its budget was developed with international support during the two decades after the US toppled the Taliban government in 2001.
An absence of that international assistance in the last few months has created a significant economic crisis for the interim Taliban administration that has consistently demanded international recognition and a release of its financial assets abroad.
President Biden’s recent decision also led to demonstrations in Afghanistan on Saturday, making people point out the US was unilaterally taking decision about the money that rightfully belonged to them.
“The people of Afghanistan have been saying they urgently need humanitarian assistance and expect all their resources,” Qureshi continued. “They maintain the US can decide how to compensate 9/11 victims on its own separately.”
He said it was clear that much of the Afghan population would fall below the poverty line if sufficient humanitarian aid was not provided to the neighboring country.
“Economic collapse in Afghanistan is not in anyone’s interest,” he added. “If there is an economic meltdown [in Afghanistan], we will face a massive influx of refugees.”
The foreign minister noted people, especially women and children, would suffer greatly from food shortages if serious humanitarian efforts were not made in the war-battered state.
“We want girls’ schools and hospitals to be active in Afghanistan,” he said. “But even schools need money to pay salaries to teachers.”
He reiterated that it was imperative to deliver money to the people of Afghanistan, even if it was done through United Nations agencies.
Earlier, the foreign office of Pakistan also said in a statement that Afghans were facing grave economic and humanitarian challenges, adding they were waiting for the world community to play a constructive role in alleviating their sufferings.
