Pakistan urges world to unfreeze bank accounts of Afghan govt

• "We arranged meeting between Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and the US officials in Doha," says interior minister. 
• He says Pakistan is 'facilitator of peace'.
• Sheikh Rasheed says there is not a single refugee camp across the country.

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed Sunday appealed to the world to unfreeze the bank accounts of Afghanistan’s government.

According to the reports, the United States have frozen about $9.5 billion of the Afghan government’s reserves in US banks after the Taliban’s takeover of the country. Afghanistan is currently facing a shortage of dollars as beside other countries, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank have also seized its reserves.

Talking to journalists, Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed said, ”There was no wisdom in freezing the bank accounts of Afghanistan’s government.”

Rubbishing Indian media’s false propaganda, the interior minister said that fencing at Pak-Afghan border was aimed at curbing terrorism.

“We are the facilitator of peace,” he said, adding that Pakistan arranged a meeting between Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and the US officials in Doha.

Talking about Pakistan’s efforts for peace in Afghanistan, the interior minister said that Director-General Inter-Services Intelligence (DG ISI) Lt Gen Faiz Hameed hosted a meeting of eight intelligence chiefs of various countries on Afghanistan.

Sheikh Rasheed said that Pakistan is only interested in peace and stability in the neighbouring country. Responding to a question, he said that there was not a single refugee camp across the country.

'Afghan reserves in US won’t be accessible to Taliban'

On August 17, a US administration official had said that the Taliban will be denied access to any Afghan reserves held in US accounts.

"Any Central Bank assets the Afghan government has in the United States will not be made available to the Taliban,” the US official had told AFP, adding that the US forces were evacuating Afghanistan’s capital after the Taliban’s swift takeover.

According to the IMF, the central bank’s gross reserves totaled $9.4 billion at the end of April. But most of those funds are held outside of Afghanistan, according to a person familiar with the matter. It was not immediately clear what share of the assets are held in the United States.