“This disastrous decision needs to be stopped in its tracks,” the three founders of “Unfreeze Afghanistan” — former RAND National Security Division program director Dr. Cheryl Benard, CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin, and Afghan-America women’s rights activist Masuda Sultan — demand in an article published by The National Interest on Feb. 14. Their charge: President Biden’s Executive Order (EO) seizing Afghanistan’s assets “Hammers a $7 Billion Nail into Afghanistan’s Coffin.”
“The first problem with this executive order,” they write, “is that it disposes of money on the assumption that it belongs to the Taliban. But it does not. It belongs to the Afghan people, many of whom have their life’s savings invested in their Central Bank. We should also be clear that it is not their fault that the Taliban are in control. The present Taliban rule is the outcome of a poorly conceived and badly executed twenty-year social engineering experiment by the United States, accompanied by a war-fighting strategy that failed, and culminating in a chaotic exit.”
“Another problem with Biden’s order is that it entirely misconstrues the purpose of a national reserve. It is not some slush fund that you can hand out to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for humanitarian aid or use to settle court cases. It’s the backbone of a country’s fiscal stability. Afghanistan’s future is certainly not best served by making it a permanent charity case and aid recipient.” Afghans’ own assets need to be returned so the country’s economy can be rebuilt, and its businesses, farms, and industries function.
