Afghanistan... A wave of anger after an American decision to confiscate $ 7 billion from the National Bank

The Taliban-led Afghan government says that if the United States does not reconsider its decision on Afghan funds, the Taliban will have to reconsider its policy toward Washington, and has seen the freezing of National Bank reserves as a violation of all international norms.

The spokesman for the Afghan government, Zabihullah Mujahid, told Al Jazeera Net, "The events of September 11 (2001) have nothing to do with the Afghans, and that the confiscation of Afghan funds and their distribution to the families of the victims of the accident is a clear violation of the right of the Afghan people, and the recent decision of the American president clearly contradicts the agreement between The United States and the Taliban.

US President Joe Biden signed an executive order last week allowing his country to dispose of $7 billion in funds from the Afghan Central Bank frozen in US financial institutions, half of which will be allocated to compensate the families of the September 11 victims, and the other half will be spent in the form of humanitarian aid for the Afghan people.

The US Department of Justice will present a plan to a federal judge on what to do with the frozen amount, amid urgent calls from members of the US Congress and the United Nations to use it to address Afghanistan's severe economic crisis, which has worsened since the Taliban seized power last August.

rage

Hours after the US President signed the resolution related to Afghan funds, a wave of anger and resentment erupted among the Afghan government and people, most notably former Afghan President Hamid Karzai and former Head of the Reconciliation Committee Abdullah Abdullah, and they called on the American president to review his decision.

Karzai said - in a press conference held at his home in the capital, Kabul - "The total reserves of the National Bank are not the property of any government or regime, but rather the property of the Afghan people, and we will not accept the American decision to dispose of our money in this way proposed by President Joe Biden, and the Afghan people are victims of terrorism." And instead of the world helping us, we are being punished in this way, and the American president should review his decision.”

According to the International Monetary Fund, the total reserves of the Afghan National Bank at the end of last April amounted to 9.4 billion US dollars, which was 500 million dollars in 2002.

Economist Lutfallah Lutf told Al Jazeera Net, "The American decision lacks professionalism and legitimacy, because first, these funds are not for Afghan governments regardless of who rules Afghanistan, and then there are two billion for the private sector, so how does the American president act in people's money in this way? Then, the decision It needs the approval of the Federal Court, and I am sure it will reject it, and I see it as a political decision rather than an economic one."

If the US President's decision is implemented and the Afghan money is distributed to the families of the victims of the September 11th events, there will be dire consequences for the Afghan people and the economy.

Economic problems

Economic analyst Hamid Stanekzai told Al Jazeera Net, "The implementation of the decision leads to major economic and financial problems that will be difficult for the Afghan people to overcome, as the country will depend for a long time on foreign aid, and the Afghan currency will lose its price against the dollar and foreign currencies, and the National Bank will lose its ability to control Afghan currency rate.

Despite severe criticism from the Afghans and a number of countries and humanitarian organizations, the implementation of the US President's decision requires a series of complex legal procedures to enter into force, and there will be negative repercussions on the Afghan people if the United States insists on putting pressure on the Taliban movement, so it must It is looking for other ways and not to confiscate the Afghan people's money, according to Stankzai.

The head of the Institute for Strategic Studies, Tamim Asi, told Al Jazeera Net, "5 Afghan generations will suffer from the implementation of the US president's decision to distribute Afghan funds, and foreign institutions will control the fate of Afghans for decades to come."

As for the writer and political analyst, Sirajuddin Eithar, he says to Al-Jazeera Net, "The implementation of the decision does not affect the Taliban movement, because it managed within 4 months to collect $400 million in taxes from customs, and the Taliban reduced the size of the government and the number of employees, in addition to deducting their salaries, and 300 thousand elements Security and other departments do not receive salaries," adding that "the Taliban has sufficient funds to facilitate its affairs."

A large number of Afghans believe that distributing humanitarian aid in Afghanistan through international and UN institutions is a waste of money, whether the money proposed by the US President or others, because these institutions are spent according to their vision and not according to the Afghan priority.

And former Finance Minister Khaled Baindah told Al-Jazeera Net, "The handing over of Afghan funds to the United Nations so that it distributes it to the Afghans is a betrayal, because the United Nations has spent and spends on its offices in Afghanistan from the aid funds allocated to the Afghans, and the Taliban movement should oppose this matter, and supervise itself on these matters.

The difficult living situation of the Afghan people will inevitably affect the political stability in the country (Al-Jazeera)

Afghanistan Precautions

Afghanistan currently has $9 billion in reserves, of which $7 billion is in the US Central Bank in New York, and the rest is in Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates and Germany, and most of it is deposited in the form of gold.

The former head of the Afghan National Bank, Khan Afzal, told Al Jazeera Net, "Most of the Afghan reserves in foreign banks are gold, and when the price of gold rises, Afghanistan earns 800 million dollars annually, and in the normal situation it earns 300 million dollars."

He pointed out that "the current crisis and the use of these funds for political purposes makes Afghanistan lose a profit, and this affects the living situation and the price of the Afghan currency."

In contrast, 3.2 million children suffer from malnutrition in Afghanistan.

According to the World Food Program, 23 million Afghans do not know where the next meal will come from, and the implementation of the US decision will lead to the collapse of the already fragile economic system in Afghanistan.

Economic analyst Hikmat Jalil told Al Jazeera Net, "The difficult living situation of the Afghan people will inevitably affect the political stability in the country, and many will think about emigrating to Europe, and since placing financial warnings on the Afghan reserves, more than a million Afghans have left Afghanistan for neighboring countries and Europe." ".