President Biden urged to unfreeze Afghanistan’s assets

KABUL (Pajhwok): The family members of 9/11 attacks victims have asked US President Joe Bidden to release Afghanistan’s central bank assets before millions of civilians die of starvation, according to a media report on Thursday.

US media outlet The Intercept reported these families asked the White House to help end the mass starvation crisis in Afghanistan by releasing the country’s US-held foreign reserves.

Over 20 years after September 11, family members of those killed in the 2001 attacks have a message for the US government: Release Afghanistan’s central bank assets before millions of civilians die of starvation.

“There is not only a moral imperative in doing this, there is also a national security interest in doing this and preventing Afghanistan from sliding into total collapse,” said Terry Rockefeller, whose sister died at the World Trade Center on 9/11.

In February, the Biden administration announced that it would split over $7 billion in Afghan assets held in the New York Federal Reserve Bank between a pool for potential settlements for families of 9/11 victims and an ambiguously defined trust fund “for the benefit of the Afghan people.”

nh