'US order on frozen assets atrocity against Afghans’

Ex-Afghan president Hamid Karzai asks families of those killed in 9/11 attacks to help rescind President Biden's order

Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai on Monday termed a White House order to unfreeze $3.5bn in Afghan assets 'an atrocity against the Afghan people.'

US President Joe Biden will sign an executive order on Friday that will allow half of the $7 billion in frozen Afghan reserves held in the United States to be used to help the Afghan people without providing the Taliban access to the funds.

The multi-step plan calls for the other half of the funds to remain in the United States, subject to ongoing litigation by US victims of terrorism, including relatives of those who died in the Sept 11, 2001, hijacking attacks, the sources said.

Addressing a packed news conference, Karzai asked Americans, particularly families of those killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks to press the US president to rescind his order of last week, Al Jazeera reported.

Also read: US moves to unfreeze Afghan assets

“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 September 11,” he said.

“We commiserate with them [but] Afghan people are as much victims as those families who lost their lives," he added.

The former Afghan president went on to add that "withholding money or seizing money from the people of Afghanistan in their name is unjust and unfair and an atrocity against Afghan people.”

We “ask the US courts to do the opposite, to return the Afghan money back to the Afghan people”, he maintained.

Also read: Pakistan questions US move of giving half of $7b Afghan funds to 9/11 victims

“This money does not belong to any government … this money belongs to the people of Afghanistan,” he remarked.

The moves come amid mounting pressure in Congress for the Biden administration to use the frozen Afghan reserves to address the dire economic crisis facing Afghanistan, which is suffering severe recession and liquidity crisis.

Decisions about the remaining funds need to be made by federal courts since some of the 9/11 families have writs of execution against the frozen assets, the sources said, adding that the plaintiffs would have a full opportunity to have their claims heard in court.