An executive order signed by US President Joe Biden last Friday has stirred strong reactions in different parts of the world after his administration decided to take over $7.1 billion of Afghan frozen assets and put plans to spend it, effectively depriving the country on the brink of famine of the many billions it once owned.
Even though the announcement published online by the White House repeatedly expressed American "intentions to help the people of Afghanistan," it still generated angry reactions by Afghans in and outside of the country.
Two-thirds of the Afghan population is under 25 yrs old. That means most Afghans either weren’t yet born or were too young to remember 9/11.
— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) February 12, 2022
The US is collectively punishing—with starvation & theft—an entire people who weren’t even alive for a crime their country didn’t commit.
Calling the US move "theft," many Afghans took to online platforms to protest the US decision, perceiving it as "an illegal attempt to steal Afghan money" when it is much needed by millions of people who unwillingly live under the Taliban's control" since August 2021.
The White House announcement explained that the $7.1 billion which has been frozen since the Taliban took over Afghanistan last August will be split into two major payments, "$3.5 billion of those assets for the benefit of the Afghan people and for Afghanistan’s future pending a judicial decision."
America wouldn't let 9/11 families sue Saudi Arabia but is happy to steal food from the mouths of Afghan children. What an awful, disgusting, immoral move. https://t.co/3m574muyQM
— İyad el-Baghdadi | إياد البغدادي (@iyad_elbaghdadi) February 11, 2022
Meanwhile, it also stressed that Biden's executive order will facilitate access to another $3.5 billion assets that "would remain in the United States and are subject to ongoing litigation by U.S. victims of terrorism."
Online people attempted to remind the US administration that the peace agreement between the US and the Taliban in February 2020 facilitated the group's return to the country which they took full control of in August 2021.
Some Afghan users also highlighted the many economic troubles facing Afghans who could not leave the wake of the Taliban's control six months ago, especially as warnings have been on the rise that the country could soon face the danger of an economic collapse that could starve its near 40 million people.
Amongst the most prominent critics of the US decision is the former president of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai, who was the first one to head the country after the US-led invasion in 2001.
Former president Hamid Karzai called on US president to reverse his decision to direct $3.5 billion of Afghan funds to the victims of 9/11. In a press conference in Kabul he said withholding money from the people of AFG is unjust & unfair & atrocities against the Afghan people. pic.twitter.com/8zBys63rLi
— 1TVNewsAF (@1TVNewsAF) February 13, 2022
Karzai who remained in Kabul following the Taliban's sudden rise to power, addressed the US saying that the Afghan people should not be punished since they are victims of terrorism just as the victims of 9/11. Karzai called on Joe Biden to reconsider his decision calling the assets controlled by the US "the property of the Afghan people."
