September 24, 2024 The Kabul Times
Reports said that the Afghanistan Trust Fund in Switzerland has gained 337 million U.S. dollars in interest since its establishment. The fund’s board emphasized that the trust fund operates independently to maintain currency value stability, price stability, and financial sector stability, according to the media. As quoted by local media, Shah Mohammad Mehrabi, a board member of the Afghan Trust Fund in Switzerland, said: “The fund operates independently with the purpose of receiving, protecting, preserving and dispersing assets for the benefit of the Afghan people. Its goals include foreign exchange rate and price stabilization with the primary objective being the stabilization of the financial sector. It is not designed or intended for humanitarian purposes.”
According to the media, the Ministry of Economy once again called on the international community to release Afghanistan’s frozen assets. “All of Afghanistan’s assets that are frozen and blocked abroad are the legitimate and logical right of the Afghan people,” Abdul Latif Nazari, the Deputy Minister of Economy said demanding the release of these funds and their returned to the Afghan people as soon as possible, to be used for the economic growth and development of the country.
Meanwhile, Sakhi Ahmad Payman, the First Deputy of the Chamber of Industries and Mines hoped the international community would lift the economic pressures so that the people of Afghanistan receive their benefits, as according to him, if the private sector could use these funds, it would help the country’s economy, provide job opportunities for the people and alleviate poverty in some extents. Over 9 billion U.S. dollars in the country’s assets are still blocked in the U.S. and European banks, out of which, $3.5 billion others were transferred to the trust fund, while the fate of the remaining 6 billion U.S. dollars are still unclear.
The people of Afghanistan once again call for their frozen assets to be released, as the move helps to avoid a severe economic downturn. The frozen assets are the rights of the people of Afghanistan and any move to their release, would help the country’s economy to breathe as well as the incumbent Afghan government to do more for the people and the country. The fund will never misused and no one within the Islamic Emirate will wrongly use the asset, and if there is a doubt, safeguards could be placed around them. A grim prediction has come among that most of Afghanistan’s people could plunge into harsh poverty if the assets remained unfrozen and the country remained locked out of around 10 billion U.S. dollars in assets abroad by the Western countries using them as an incentive to get the ruling government of Afghanistan to cooperate with their demands’.
‘ Since the Islamic Emirate is seeking recognition from the international community and at least is eying stronger interaction and engagement with the world, so, this is inevitable that the remaining billions of U.S. dollars from the country’s central bank frozen help nothing to go ahead or develop in the poverty-stricken nation. This is also the demand of most of Afghanistan’s neighbors as well as the regional countries, from the international community, particularly the United Nations to pressure the Western countries to unfreeze the Afghan assets, as it is clear that many of them, including Russia, China, Uzbekistan, Iran, Pakistan as well as many world countries are closely working with the incumbent Islamic system. The people of Afghanistan never want the frozen assets to be used as leverage for threats or restraints on the Afghan government to force them to bow to their demands or impose their demands on the country. Inam Hashemi
source https://thekabultimes.com/unfreeze-assets-the-legitimate-rights-of-afghans/
Categories: Afghanistan, Asia