Taliban call on Biden to reverse move to halve frozen Afghan funds
- 15 Feb 2022
Gulf Today Report
Afghanistan will be forced to reconsider its policy towards the United States unless Washington reverses a decision to freeze part of the country's assets as compensation for victims of the 9/11 attacks, the Taliban said on Monday.
The United States will free up half of the $7 billion in frozen Afghan central bank assets on US soil to help Afghans struggling with a humanitarian crisis and hold the rest to possibly satisfy terrorism-related lawsuits against the Taliban.
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US President Joe Biden last week seized $7 billion in assets belonging to the previous Afghan government, aiming to split the funds between compensation for victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States and desperately needed aid for post-war Afghanistan.
The move drew an angry response from the country's new Taliban leaders, which branded the seizure a "theft" and a sign of US "moral decay."
Joe Biden attends an election meeting. File photo
"The 9/11 attacks had nothing to do with Afghanistan," said Monday's statement, signed by deputy spokesman Inamullah Samangani.
"Any misappropriation of the property of the Afghan people under the pretext of this incident is a clear violation of the agreement reached with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan," the statement added, using the Taliban's name for the country.
"If the United States does not deviate from its position and continues its provocative actions, the Islamic Emirate will also be forced to reconsider its policy towards the country."
"The Islamic Emirate strongly rejects Biden's unjustified actions as a violation of the rights of all Afghans," it added.
"If the United States does not deviate from its position and continues its provocative actions, the Islamic Emirate will also be forced to reconsider its policy towards the country," said a statement from the Taliban released by its spokesman on Monday.