Two years after the US left Afghanistan, over half the country’s population are at the mercy of aid organizations, the funding for the aid is around one-third of the aid budget, and almost 220 domestic and international organizations have shut their doors. The one biggest factor is the West’s decision to freeze over $9 billion of Afghanistan’s foreign reserves.
TOLO News’ review of Afghanistan’s economy over the last two years shows the ongoing impact of the West’s freezing of over $9 billion of their assets, in particular in the increase of unemployment and poverty. Then on February 11, 2002, US President Joe Biden signed an executive order that designates $3.5 billion of Afghanistan’s foreign reserves to be used instead for victims of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks. (Since the US holds about $7 billion of the $9 billion of Afghanistan’s reserves, this amount comprised about half.) Even some of the relatives of the 9/11 victims protested against this travesty.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning at the time summed it up: “These assets of the Afghan central bank frozen by the US are the national property of Afghanistan and the life-saving money of the Afghans. They should have been returned to Afghanistan in full at once, should have been handled independently by Afghanistan itself and should have been used to improve people’s livelihood and advance peace and reconstruction in Afghanistan without hindrance. We call on the US side to fully unfreeze the assets and lift unilateral sanctions on the country as soon as possible, take concrete actions to fulfill its primary responsibility for Afghanistan’s peace and reconstruction and show accountability to the world.”
