Afghanistan demand US to return $3.5b in frozen Afghan assets

The Taliban authorities had once again called for the release of Afghan central bank’s assets which Washington intends to use the funds to compensate victims of the 9/11 attacks.

The fund is $7 billion and the US President Joe Biden signed an executive order last year to equally split it between humanitarian efforts for the Afghan people and the relatives of September 11, 2021. The money was deposited in New York before the Taliban takeover in Kabul in August 2021.

Mr. Biden said his administration is going to freeze the money to prevent it from falling to the Taliban hand and asked the judge for permission to move $3.5 billion to a Swiss-based trust fund.

“The Afghan Fund will protect, preserve and make targeted disbursements of that $3.5 billion to help provide greater stability to the Afghan economy,” the US Treasury said, but the Taliban rejected and demanded the return of billions of dollars held in the US and elsewhere.

US judge spoke against seizing Afghanistan’s $3.5b

A federal judge in New York said that the families of victims of the 9/11 terror attacks cannot seize $3.5 billion in Afghan central bank reserves.

US District Judge George Daniels in the Southern District of New York said the court lacked the jurisdiction to seize the money from the central bank of Afghanistan.

“The judgment creditors are entitled to collect on their default judgments and be made whole for the worst terrorist attack in our nation’s history, but they cannot do so with the funds of the central bank of Afghanistan,” Mr. Daniels said.

“The Taliban — not the former Islamic Republic of Afghanistan or the Afghan people — must pay for the Taliban’s liability in the 9/11 attacks,” the judge said in a 30 pages statement.

Mr. Daniels further went on saying that he was “constitutionally restrained” from awarding the assets to the families because it would effectively mean recognizing the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.

No countries have so far recognized the Taliban government but some countries have reopened their diplomatic missions and the Taliban had repeatedly called on the world to resume its activities and work with the new government.

Taliban happy with US judge’s decision

The Taliban authorities have welcomed the US court ruling and called on Washington to return the money back to Afghanistan without any further delay.

“These assets belong to Afghanistan. There should be no excuse to freeze or to not return them to the people of Afghanistan,” Bilal Karimi, Deputy Government Spokesman, told AFP.

“They must be returned without any terms and conditions.”

Last year when Biden issued an executive order to seize the funds, thousands of Afghans took to the streets in the capital city Kabul and other provinces to protest against freeze of the country’s assets, demanding the release of Afghans assets.

“Our seized money should be handed over. Give our money back” the protestors were chanting at that time. They also said that this money belongs to the ordinary Afghans and it has nothing to do with the Taliban or the previous government.

Besides freezing Afghan money, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had also stopped its funds to Afghanistan under control of the Taliban that had impacted the economy severely.

After the disintegration of the internationally-supported-and-backed republic government, top officials including President Ashraf Ghani and its acting governor for the central bank fled the country, leaving behind these billions of money.

Now the Taliban claimed a right to the money, but it lacked legal recognition to own them at a time when country’s economy already collapsed leading to mass starvation and unprecedented poverty.

$4.6b needed to help 23.7m Afghans

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) has called for immediate support and humanitarian funding to assist 23.7 million people in Afghanistan.

“More reasons why early humanitarian funding is critical in Afghanistan. Aid agencies can sustain winterization activities, support families during the planting season, prepare for flood response ahead of rains. $4.6b is needed in 2023 to assist 23.7 M people,” UNOCHA said in a tweet post.

Many exports strongly believe that the frozen money will definitely help Afghan people in such a time when their economy is deteriorated. They say there are several NGOs and other local institutions where the world can work with in order to support the needy people. They also suggest finding a legal framework to engage with the Taliban because they are now the ruler and the people need support.

There is an understanding that such funding will not resolve the deeper structural problems that have sent the country’s economy spiraling into ruin, but at least it will prevent further decline and help the ordinary Afghans survive. Billions of dollars showered in Afghanistan in the past 20 years, but nothing has changed significantly. During these years, the Afghan economy was drastically and artificially bolstered by enormous influxes of foreign aid and security assistance from the Western countries.

Ghani among top gift givers to Bidens in 2021

It is worth mentioning that people were in need of humanitarian support during the republic government as well. There were millions of people who needed support and the government itself was run by the foreign funds.

(Left), former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and (right) President Joe Biden

More than half of the Afghan population were under the poverty line and this was also admitted by Ghani himself. But despite economic issues, Mr. Ghani, were among the top gift givers to President Biden and his family in 2021.

Ghani and his wife gave Biden and first lady Jill Biden silk rugs worth an estimated $28,800, and this happened two months ahead of the fall of the republic government. Mr. Ghani also handed the US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin a carpet valued at $2,650 in March, according to US media report.

In June the same year, Abdullah Abdullah, the former head of the high council for national reconciliation also gifted Biden a brass and lapis lazuli jewelry box, worth an estimated $1,150.