President Joe Biden.Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty
Speaking to reporters on Friday, senior administration officials explained that, when the capital of Kabul fell to the Taliban, Afghanistan had over $9 billion in reserves, the source of which was international assistance from the U.S. and other donors from the past two decades.
But exactly who will ultimately receive that money remains to be seen, officials said.
An administration official told reporters on Friday that they wanted to “be very clear” that this was also “a step in a process that might lead to the unlocking of these funds for the benefit of the Afghan people,” noting that a number of American victims of terrorism have brought claims against the Taliban for monetary relief and are pursuing legal access to those same funds.
As the official explained, victims' families suing the Taliban to try and access those funds will have “a full opportunity to have their claims heard in U.S. courts.”
“Just to emphasize again: This is one step forward in a process, and no funds are going to be transferred until the court makes a ruling,” the official said.
Not everyonewas pleased with the ideathat some of the funds could go toward terrorism victims, rather than Afghans.
Afghanistan’s former President Hamid Karzai said in a press conference over the weekend that the Afghan people “are as much victims as those families who lost their lives,” in the Sept. 11 attacks, theAssociated Pressreported.
“The people of Afghanistan share the pain of the American people, share the pain of the families and loved ones of those who died, who lost their lives in the tragedy of Sept. 11,” Karzai said. “We commiserate with them (but) Afghan people are as much victims as those families who lost their lives. … Withholding money or seizing money from the people of Afghanistan in their name is unjust and unfair and an atrocity against Afghan people.”
In the following months, the U.S. completed a full-scale withdrawal — one that led to the Taliban swiftly retaking the country’s cities as they were met with little resistance from the Afghan army and its democratic government, which soon collapsed.
Since the last American military plane left the region, humanitarian groups have been rushing to save Afghans who now face freezing to death or starvation due to lack of access to food and fuel.
In a December news release, the World Food Programme said the number of Afghan people turning to humanitarian aide is “immense.”
source: people.com
