Karzai: Afghans are united in demanding US release of central bank money
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The former Afghan President that his people are also victims of the 9/11 attacks, paying the price for an attack in which they never participated.
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Children searching for food in a waste container near Kabul airport (AFP)
Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai said that all Afghans are united in their demand for the United States to release the funds of the Afghan Central Bank, hours after US President Joe Biden's decision to release half of those funds.
Karzai said in a press conference, "We do not want humanitarian aid and other assistance that comes from our money, we and all Afghans are with the Bank of Afghanistan, and it is a united cause with a united voice," adding that "we have to stand firmly and take back these funds, and we will cooperate inside and outside the country. We will work together for that."
The former president stressed, "We have no disagreements on this issue. Politicians, supporters and opposition forces, are all with the government, and we will raise our voice."
Commenting on the decision to keep half of the funds frozen until the cases brought by the families of the victims of the 9/11 events are resolved, Karzai said, "We are also the victims of 9/11. Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan, and now that the punishment has been handed down on Afghans, we should all agree that this money should not be transferred [to an account at the US Federal Reserve in accordance with the decision].”
He explained that "the reason behind the collapse of the government and the freezing of funds is due to the fact that Ashraf Ghani [US-backed former president] left the country. If a peace government had been formed at that time, the situation would not be as it is now," as he described it.
US President Joe Biden has signed a decree releasing the frozen $7 billion of the Central Bank of Afghanistan's assets in US banks.
According to information published on the White House website, the Afghan assets kept in US bank accounts will be transferred to a special trust fund at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. It is assumed that half of these funds will be used in the future to meet the humanitarian needs of the Afghan people following the relevant court decision.
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Afghanistan is one of the world's most fragile, at-risk economies
At the same time, the remaining $3.5 billion will remain in the United States and will be used to compensate families of victims of terrorist attacks, including the attacks of September 11, 2001.
The Afghan government soon responded to this decision, accusing Washington of "showing the lowest level of human and moral corruption."
Afghans demonstrated shortly after Biden's announcement, gathering outside Kabul’s grand Eid Gah mosque and demanding financial compensation for the tens of thousands of Afghans killed during the last 20 years of US occupation.
The frozen Afghan assets by the US Treasury, coupled with the country's abstinence from providing support amid Afghanistan's long and cold winter, has only exacerbated the famine crisis. The number of malnourished children has increased, with children at clinics unable to crawl or stand.
The Central Bank of Afghanistan considered that Biden's decision to freeze his foreign cash reserve and re-allocate it for other purposes is unfair towards the Afghan people, stressing that it is not acceptable to pay this reserve in the form of compensation and humanitarian aid to others, calling for the release of this reserve.
