Anwar ul-Haq Ahadi, a member of the Afghanistan Fund in Switzerland, said that Afghanistan’s frozen assets have been changed into a political issue.
Ahadi, in an exclusive interview with TOLOnews, said that although the Swiss-based trust fund was established more than a month ago, the $3.5 billion of Afghanistan’s frozen assets has not been transferred from the US Treasury Department.
“The freezing of these assets was a political decision, and the issue that Afghanistan’s current government has not been recognized yet is political. if the problems are solved, there is no need for this trust fund and it will be canceled. At that time, the money will be transferred to the Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB),” said Anwar Ul Haq Ahadi.
Ahadi is one of the four members of the trust fund, which was formed, according to the US, to prevent the misuse of 3.5 billion dollars of Afghanistan’s foreign reserves.
“Disbursement is based on a consensus, if one member of the fund disagrees with it, the assets will not be used. I will not agree with using the assets where there is no justification,” said Anwar Ul Haq Ahadi.
“The transfer of 3.5 billion dollars from Afghanistan’s foreign exchange reserves to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) can help Afghanistan in maintaining the Afghan currency against foreign currencies,” said Seyar Qurishi, economist.
Meanwhile, Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman for the Islamic Emirate, in an interview with a Turkish media outlet once again urged the United States to release the more than $9 million assets.
“More than nine billion dollars of Afghanistan that were entrusted to the US in banks, was blocked after the political changes in occurred in Afghanistan, now they (US) do not allow us to access the assets and imposed some restrictions on Afghanistan’s banks, we know that the assets are supporting money for our national currency, but the assets are the wealth of the people,” said Zabiullah Mujahid, spokesman for the Islamic Emirate.
The United States established the trust fund and said it will transfer $3.5bn in Afghan central bank assets to the fund.
Anwar ul-Haq Ahadi, former Minister of Commerce and Industry of Afghanistan, Shah Mohammad Mehrabi, a member of the Supreme Council of Da Afghanistan Bank, and Scott C. Miller, the US Ambassador to Switzerland, as well as a person from the Swiss Foreign Ministry, are the trustees of this fund and will decide on the assets of Afghanistan.
