Imran Khan's Ex-Wife Jemima Goldsmith has lashed out at the United States government after it decided to keep half of $7 billion Afghan assets in the country and hand over the rest to the Afghans in need.
US President Joe Biden on Friday signed an executive order to deal with the threat of an economic collapse in Afghanistan, setting wheels in motion for a complex resolution of competing interests in the country's assets.
The United States is seeking to free up half of the $7 billion in frozen Afghan central bank assets on US soil to help the Afghan people while holding the rest to possibly satisfy terrorism-related lawsuits against the Taliban, the White House said.
The multi-step plan calls for the other half of the funds to remain in the United States, subject to ongoing litigation by US victims of terrorism, including relatives of those who died in the September 11, 2001, hijacking attacks, the officials said.
Senior US administration officials said they would work to ensure access to $3.5 billion of the assets — which stem mainly from aid to Afghanistan over the past two decades — to benefit the Afghan people.