Pakistan seeks unfreezing of Afghanistan’s assets

ISLAMABAD: After a long period of time, Afghanistan returned to the news when the regional Fourth Meeting of the Moscow Format member states was held in Moscow on Wednesday, with Pakistan calling for exploring realistic pathways towards unfreezing Afghanistan’s financial assets.

Since it is directly hit by terrorism from across its western borders, Pakistan highlighted the footprints of terrorist organisations in Afghanistan, which have yet to be fully eradicated. Important for Pakistan was also the reality that assurances by the Interim Afghan Government on the rights of women and girls also appear to have regressed, not progressed.

Pakistan was represented by Ambassador Muhammad Sadiq, Special Representative on Afghanistan, who told the regional group that as the region moved ahead, sustained engagement with the Interim Afghan Government remains imperative, and Pakistan believed that a new balance needs to be devised with them.

Set up in 2017, the Moscow Format’s Wednesdaymeeting saw member states including Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Iran, Pakistan, China, Turkmenistan, India, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan attending. Following reports of some friction between Moscow and Kabul, Taliban however could not attend. Meanwhile, at the close of the meeting, The News understands India, Russia and Iran would hold a trilateral meeting on the sidelines.

Spelling out Pakistan’s proposals at the regional meeting, Ambassador Sadiq pointed out that without prejudice to the well-known concerns, the international community should consider cooperating with the Afghan authorities on counter-terrorism and combatting drug trafficking to serve as stepping stones of such cooperation. He also stressed that the pressing humanitarian needs of the Afghan people must be de-hyphenated from any political considerations.

“As clearly provided by UN Security Council resolution 2615 (2021), humanitarian support does not fall under the ambit of sanctions. It is time to walk this talk by ensuring continued and sustained humanitarian support to the people of Afghanistan”, he added.

Also, Pakistan feels that beyond the confines of humanitarian assistance, the Moscow Format should focus on generating economic activity within Afghanistan to ensure a sustainable future. This he underlined could be done by exploring realistic pathways towards unfreezing Afghanistan’s financial assets. “A roadmap for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Afghanistan is equally important,” he said.

Ambassador Sadiq said that Pakistan believes that the region must continue to play a leading role in promoting peace and stability in Afghanistan. “While others may have the choice to walk away, we do not enjoy that luxury. This conviction underpins our deep commitment to promoting regional solutions and also serves as a guiding principle of the ‘Neighbours of Afghanistan’ format,” he added.

While terming the progress report of the last 16 months when the last Moscow Format was held as mixed, Sadiq said while some of the worst fears including a rapidly deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan, the mass exodus of refugees and a prolonged period of instability and violence did not materialise, the Interim Afghan Government has also not made the kind of progress that the international community would ideally expect. ”Nowhere is this more apparent than on the question of inclusiveness. The international community has consistently urged the Interim Afghan Government to promote greater political inclusivity. Unfortunately, there is little to show on this count,” Ambassador Sadiq said.

This cascade of unmet expectations, has unfortunately meant that critical support needed by Afghanistan to stave off a grave humanitarian crisis, prevent an economic meltdown and combat terrorism, has also faltered. ”As we speak, millions of Afghans are in desperate need of urgent humanitarian support including food, medicine and essential life supplies. The advent of the Afghan winter has exacerbated an already dire situation -- the World Food Programme has already warned that over half the Afghan population could face a winter of famine this year”, he said.

It should, therefore, be no surprise that according to the UNODC, opium cultivation in Afghanistan has increased by 32% over the previous year which is not only a symptom of the larger drug problem in Afghanistan but also a measure of the desperate choices that the ordinary Afghans have to make every day to survive. He called this the collective failure of the international community to stand by the people of Afghanistan, the international commitments to provide humanitarian support to Afghanistan remain largely unfulfilled.

On top, Afghanistan remains cut off from the international banking system and faces serious liquidity challenges. Billions of Afghan assets are frozen, thus deprived of being gainfully used for the benefit of the people of Afghanistan. However, after four decades of war and bloodshed, Pakistan is of the view that Afghanistan has turned a new page in its history and now that the war has ended, there is a unique opportunity to secure durable peace. “We are confident that our Afghan brethren will capitalise on this opportunity”, the ambassador said.