Islamabad: Pakistan has questioned the US’ decision of setting aside half of the Afghan assets frozen in America for the victims of the 9/11 attacks, saying utilisation of Afghan funds should be the “sovereign decision of Afghanistan”, The Express Tribune reported.
The reaction from the Foreign office came after US President Joe Biden in what is seen as a controversial move decided to split $7 billion foreign assets of Afghanistan between the victims of the 9/11 attacks and for the humanitarian assistance of Afghanistan.
The decision was even being criticised within the US with many people including victims’ families of the 9/11 attacks insisting that Afghan funds should not have been arbitrarily used by the US government, the report said.
“Pakistan has seen the US decision to unfreeze the Afghan assets held by the US banks to release $3.5 billion for humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan and $3.5 billion for compensation to families of 9/11 victims,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Asim Iftikhar said in a statement.
The official press release noted that over the past several months, Pakistan had 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.
