Frozen assets: Utilisation of Afghan funds should be the sovereign decision of Afghanistan, says FO

ISLAMABAD: Clearing Pakistan’s principled position on the frozen Afghan central bank’s assets in the US, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday said that these are owned by the Afghan nation and should be released.

Responding to media questions, the Foreign Office spokesperson said, “The utilisation of Afghan funds should be the sovereign decision of Afghanistan.”

He maintained that they have seen the US decision to unfreeze $3.5 billion Afghan assets held by US banks 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 emphasising 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,” he added.

The spokesperson said that finding ways to unfreeze the Afghan foreign reserves urgently would help address the humanitarian and economic needs of the Afghan people.

The Afghan people were facing grave economic and humanitarian challenges and the international community must continue to play its important and constructive role in alleviating their sufferings, he added.