Joe Biden releases frozen Afghan assets

 

WASHINGTON, FEB 12: After months of waiting, US President Joe Biden on Friday signed an executive order giving half of the $7 billion in frozen Afghan assets to Afghanistan, while keeping the other half for victims of the Sept 11 terror attacks.

The US administration blocked the assets belonging to Afghanistan’s central bank, known as Da Afghan Bank or DAB in August last year.

The move aimed to prevent the country’s new Taliban rulers, who seized Kabul on Aug 15, from accessing the funds.

President Biden said the order to release funds was “part of our ongoing work to address the humanitarian and economic crisis in Afghanistan” and the money would be “used to benefit the Afghan people”.

Half of the $7bn will be spent on helping Afghans, other half to be awarded to Sept 11 victims

The executive order blocks DAB property held in the United States by American financial institutions and requires those institutions to transfer this property into a consolidated account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The US administration will facilitate access to $3.5 billion of those assets for the benefit of the Afghan people and for Afghanistan’s future pending a judicial decision.

Many US victims of terrorism, including relatives of those who died in the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, have brought claims against the Taliban and are pursuing DAB assets in a federal court. The court will make the final decision on those writs.

“Even if funds are transferred for the benefit of the Afghan people, more than $3.5 billion in DAB assets would remain in the United States and are subject to ongoing litigation by US victims of terrorism,” the executive order said.

“Plaintiffs will have a full opportunity to have their claims heard in court.”

In a statement issued by the White House, President Biden said the executive order “provides a path for the funds to reach the people of Afghanistan, while keeping them out of the hands of the Taliban and malicious actors”.

The United States has sanctions in place against the Taliban and the Haqqani network, including for activities that threaten the safety of Americans such as holding US citizens hostage.

The US executive order also addresses the current economic situation in Afghanistan, acknowledging that there are no easy solutions for Afghanistan’s economic challenges, which have been exacerbated by the Taliban’s forced takeover of the country.

It notes that even prior to the events of last August, Afghanistan’s economy was on the brink. Afghanistan faced poverty rates above 50 per cent. International donor grants financed about 75 per cent of public expenditures and 50 per cent of the government’s budget.

------------------------------------------------

Courtesy Dawn News

-------------------

Pakistan, KSA for further strengthening of bilateral cooperation

 

ISLAMABAD, Feb 7: Pakistan and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) Monday reiterated the importance of further strengthening and diversifying bilateral cooperation in various areas of mutual interest.

This was discussed during a meeting between President Dr Arif Alvi and the visiting Saudi Minister for Interior Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, at Aiwan-e-Sadr.

Welcoming the Saudi interior minister, the president said that both brotherly countries enjoyed excellent relationship which needed to be further cemented for the mutual benefit of the two countries.

He thanked KSA for the valuable support in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as well as its participation in the 17th Extraordinary Session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers held in December last year, in Islamabad, besides providing financial support to Pakistan.

He highlighted that both countries had shared concerns in Afghanistan and urged the international community to help the Afghan people in the honour of need to save them from human catastrophe.

Regarding the release of Pakistani prisoners in KSA, he hoped that the government of KSA would give positive consideration to release prisoners who had completed their sentences.

The president also expressed gratitude to the Saudi leadership for launching the “Road to Mecca” pilot project and said that the government of Pakistan was looking forward to its expansion to other cities of the country.

The president asked the visiting dignitary to convey his sincere wishes to King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

The Saudi minister informed that steps were being taken to help address the issue of Pakistani prisoners by the technical teams of the two countries.

He thanked the government of Pakistan for extending a warm welcome and hospitality to his delegation during their stay in Pakistan.

The president appreciated the role and support of KSA for hosting over 2 million Pakistanis and its benevolent approach towards them during the pandemic.

-----------------------------------------

Courtesy APP

-------------------

Breaking News: Saudi interior minister to visit Pakistan on Feb 7

 

ISLAMABAD, FEB 2: On a special invitation of Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Saudi Interior Minister Prince Abdul Aziz bin Saud bin Naif will arrive Pakistan on February 7 on a day-long visit.

Saudi Interior Minister would meet key government and security officials during his visit to Pakistan, said a statement issued by the Interior Ministry here on Tuesday.

The Saudi Interior Minister would also meet President Dr Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Imran Khan.

He would also meet his Pakistani counterpart Sheikh Rashid Ahmed. Issues of regional situation, release of Pakistani prisoners in Saudi Arabia and other important matters would come under discussion during the meeting, it further said.

------------------------------------------

Courtesy dailytimes

----------------

Pregnant New Zealand journalist helped by Taliban set to return home

 

KABUL, FEB 1: A pregnant New Zealand journalist who was stranded in Afghanistan by her home country’s Covid-19 border policy said on Tuesday she will return home after her government finally offered her a pathway back.

The government offer amounted to a backdown by New Zealand after officials had earlier insisted that Charlotte Bellis needed to reapply for a spot in the country’s bottlenecked quarantine hotels. Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson said Bellis had been offered a voucher for a room.

“I will be returning to my home country New Zealand at the beginning of March to give birth to our baby girl,” Bellis said in a statement. “We are so excited to return home and be surrounded by family and friends at such a special time.”

Her case had quickly become an embarrassment to New Zealand, which has thousands of citizens waiting abroad for space to open in the military-run border quarantine hotels.

Bellis said she wanted to thank fellow New Zealanders for their support and would continue to challenge the government to find a solution to its border controls. She added that she was disappointed the decision was a one-off and didn’t offer a pathway home for other pregnant New Zealanders.

She said on Sunday that each day was a battle. Now 25 weeks pregnant, she said she had tried without success to enter New Zealand via a lottery-style system and then applied for an emergency return but was rejected.

Chris Bunny, the head of New Zealand’s quarantine system, said the new offer was made to Bellis because Afghanistan was extremely dangerous and there was a risk of terrorism. He said there was a limited ability to help people on the ground, especially after the withdrawal of US forces last year.

“We do acknowledge that Ms Bellis considers herself to be safe and did not seek an allocation on that ground,” Bunny said. “We have the residual discretion to grant allocations in rare and exceptional circumstances.”

Bunny said the publicity surrounding the case was not a deciding factor and the sole consideration was Bellis’s safety.

Bellis, 35, had worked as an Afghanistan correspondent for Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based news network. She resigned in November because it is illegal to be pregnant and unmarried in Qatar.

Bellis then flew to Belgium, trying to get residency in the home country of her partner, freelance photographer Jim Huylebroek, who has lived in Afghanistan for two years. But Bellis said the length of the process would have left her in Belgium with an expired visa.

Hopping from country to country on tourist visas while she waited to have her baby would have cost money and left her without health care, so she and Huylebroek returned to Afghanistan because they had a visa, felt welcome and from there could wage her battle to return to her home.

New Zealand officials said they would add Huylebroek to Bellis’s voucher if he took the same flight with her.

The Taliban have come under international criticism for repressive rules they imposed on women since sweeping to power in mid-August, including denying girls education beyond sixth grade. However, they have said that all girls and women will be allowed to attend school after the Afghan New Year at the end of March. While women have returned to work in the health and education ministries, thousands of female civil servants have not been allowed to return to their jobs.

-----------------------------

COURTESY DAWN NEWS

----------------

Rejected by New Zealand, pregnant reporter turns to Taliban for help

 

WELLINGTON, JAN 30: A pregnant New Zealand journalist says she turned to the Taliban for help and is now stranded in Afghanistan after her home country has prevented her from returning due to a bottleneck of people in its coronavirus quarantine system.

In a column published in The New Zealand Herald on Saturday, Charlotte Bellis said it was brutally ironic that she’d once questioned the Taliban about their treatment of women and she was now asking the same questions of her own government.

When the Taliban offers you a pregnant, unmarried woman safe haven, you know your situation is messed up, Bellis wrote in her column.

New Zealand’s Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins told the Herald his office had asked officials to check whether they followed the proper procedures in Bellis’s case, which appeared at first sight to warrant further explanation.

New Zealand has managed to keep the spread of the virus to a minimum during the pandemic and has reported just 52 virus deaths among its population of 5 million.

But the nation’s requirement that even returning citizens spend 10 days isolating in quarantine hotels run by the military has led to a backlog of thousands of people wanting to return home vying for spots.

Stories of citizens stranded abroad in dire circumstances have caused embarrassment for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her government, but Bellis’s situation is particularly striking.

Last year, she was working for Al Jazeera covering the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan when she gained international attention by questioning Taliban leaders about their treatment of women and girls.

In her column Saturday, Bellis said she returned to Qatar in September and discovered she was pregnant with her partner, freelance photographer Jim Huylebroek, a contributor to The New York Times.

She described the pregnancy as a miracle after earlier being told by doctors she couldn’t have children. She is due to give birth to a girl in May.

Extramarital sex is illegal in Qatar and Bellis said she realized she needed to leave. She repeatedly tried to get back to New Zealand in a lottery-style system for returning citizens but without success.

She said she resigned from Al Jazeera in November and the couple moved to Huylebroek’s native Belgium. But she couldn’t stay long, she said, because she wasn’t a resident. She said the only other place the couple had visas to live was Afghanistan.

Bellis said she spoke with senior Taliban contacts who told her she would be fine if she returned to Afghanistan.

Just tell people you’re married and if it escalates, call us. Don’t worry, Bellis said they told her.

She said she sent 59 documents to New Zealand authorities in Afghanistan but they rejected her application for an emergency return.

Chris Bunny, the joint head of New Zealand’s Managed Isolation and Quarantine system, told the Herald that Bellis’s emergency application didn’t fit a requirement that she travel within 14 days.

He said staff had reached out to Bellis about making another application that would fit within the requirements.

This is not uncommon and is an example of the team being helpful to New Zealanders who are in distressing situations, Bunny wrote.

----------------------------------------------------

Courtesy Dawn News

----------------