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U.S. moves to free $7 billion in Afghan assets to aid Afghan people, 9/11 victims
The U.S. government will take steps on Friday to free half of the $7 billion in frozen Afghan reserves held in the United States to aid the Afghan people without providing the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) access to the funds, sources familiar with the plan said.
A multi-step plan calls for the other half of the funds to remain in the United States, subject to ongoing litigation by U.S. victims of terrorism, including relatives of those who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacking attacks, the sources said.
The moves come amid mounting pressure in Congress for the Biden administration to use the frozen Afghan reserves to address the dire economic crisis facing Afghanistan, where twitch suffering severe recession and liquidity crisis.
To move forward, President Joe Biden will sign an executive order on Friday that will block property of the Afghan central bank held in the United States by U.S. financial institutions, requiring the transfer of the funds into a consolidated account held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the sources said.
The U.S. government will work to ensure access to $3.5 billion of those assets for “the benefit of the Afghan people and for Afghanistan’s future,” said one of the sources, without providing details.
Decisions about the remaining funds need to be made by federal courts since some of the 9/11 families have writs of execution against the frozen assets, the sources said, adding that the plaintiffs would have a full opportunity to have their claims heard in court.
Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi met with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Thursday in Tehran during an official visit.
According to Iranian media reports, the two diplomats discussed bilateral relations, recent regional developments, and issues of mutual interest.
Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, Prime Minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), has inspected the construction work of the second lane of the Kabul–Jalalabad highway, Arg said on Thursday.
According to Arg’s statement , the Prime Minister visited the project site earlier in the day and expressed appreciation for the efforts of the Ministry of Public Works, project officials, and private contracting companies involved in the construction process. He also issued directives for the timely and high-quality completion of the project.
Akhund said the completion of the highway would significantly improve transportation facilities, transit operations, passenger movement, and contribute to economic growth in the surrounding regions.
Officials report that construction work on the second section of the project, covering 32 kilometers from the Kabul side, is currently about 20 percent complete.
Meanwhile, work on the first 22-kilometer section from the Nangarhar side is also ongoing. Surveying and design work for the third section is being carried out by a private company, with construction expected to begin after completion of the preparatory phase.
The Kabul–Jalalabad second-lane highway is regarded as one of Afghanistan’s key transport and economic infrastructure projects and is being developed in three phases.
Senior officials from the foreign ministries of Afghanistan and Russia held consultations in Kabul, focusing on expanding bilateral cooperation and strengthening regional engagement involving Afghanistan.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the meeting was held between A.V. Pavlovsky, Director of the Second Asia Department of Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Abdul Hai Qanit, Director of the Third Political Department at Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The two sides discussed cooperation in the political, economic, cultural, and humanitarian fields, as well as ways to strengthen regional interaction with Afghanistan’s participation.
The consultations underscore ongoing diplomatic engagement between Moscow and Kabul as the two countries continue to explore closer cooperation on regional and bilateral issues.
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