Demonstrators in Afghanistan’s capital Saturday condemned President Joe Biden’s order freeing up 3.5 billion in Afghan assets
Kabul: Demonstrators in Afghanistan’s capital Saturday 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 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. 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.
