3 yıl önce

Afghans protest US order to give billions from their assets to 9/11 victims

Protesters asked the United States for financial compensation for the tens of thousands of Afghans killed during the last 20 years of war in Afghanistan.

AP

Afghan protesters condemned US President Joe Biden's decision to compensate September 11 victims from Afghan assets frozen in the US.

Demonstrators in Afghanistan’s capital have condemned President Joe Biden’s order freeing up $3.5 billion in Afghan assets held in the US for families of America’s 9/11 victims – saying the money belongs to Afghans.

Protesters who gathered outside Kabul's grand Eid Gah mosque on Saturday asked America for financial compensation for the tens of thousands of Afghans killed during the last 20 years of war in Afghanistan.

Biden's order, signed Friday, allocates another $3.5 billion in Afghan assets for humanitarian aid to a trust fund to be managed by the UN to provide aid to Afghans.

The country's economy is teetering on the brink of collapse after international money stopped coming into Afghanistan with the arrival in mid-August of the Taliban.

One-sided decision

Torek Farhadi, a financial adviser to Afghanistan's former US-backed government, questioned the UN managing Afghan Central Bank reserves.

He said those funds are not meant for humanitarian aid but “to back up the country's currency, help in monetary policy and manage the country's balance of payment."

He also questioned the legality of Biden's order.

“These reserves belong to the people of Afghanistan, not the Taliban ... Biden’s decision is one-sided and does not match with international law,” said Farhadi.

Afghanistan has about $9 billion in assets overseas, including the $7 billion in the United States. The rest is mostly in Germany, the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland.

Afg Reactions to Biden’s order:
“There was no Afg among the 9/11 attackers; OBL was NOT killed in Afg; the frozen assets R the national assets of Afg. Afghans R the most needy ppl on earth now. Taking this money from them is simply stealing from them. Don’t steal our money!”
— Fawad Lameh فؤاد لامع (@fawadlameh) February 11, 2022

@POTUS is stealing Afghanistan’s asset and giving it away to the families of 9/11 victims. There was not a single Afghan on either of the planes in 9/11 incident and neither did Afghans have any affiliation with the attack. Afghans have suffered for two decades..1/2 pic.twitter.com/tc0jLZriwF
— Fawad Azizi (@fawadazizi22) February 11, 2022

“The right of Afghans"

“What about our Afghan people who gave many sacrifices and thousands of losses of lives?” asked the demonstration's organiser, Abdul Rahman, a civil society activist.

Rahman said he planned to organise more demonstrations across the capital to protest Biden's order. "This money belongs to the people of Afghanistan, not to the United States. This is the right of Afghans,” he said.

Misspelled placards in English accused the United States of being cruel and of stealing the money of Afghans.

“Heartless"

Taliban political spokesman Mohammad Naeem accused the Biden administration in a tweet late Friday of showing “the lowest level of humanity ... of a country and a nation.”

Biden's Friday order generated a social media storm with Twitter saying #USA_stole_money_from_afghan was trending among Afghans. Tweets repeatedly pointed out that the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi nationals, not Afghans.

Obaidullah Baheer, a lecturer at the American University in Afghanistan and a social activist, tweeted: “Let’s remind the world that #AfghansDidntCommit911 and that #BidenStealingAfgMoney!”

Still, some analysts took to Twitter to question Biden's order.

Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at the US-based Wilson Center, called Biden's order to divert $3.5 billion away from Afghanistan “heartless."

SOURCE: AP