KABUL (SW) – Analysts see the US President Joe Biden’s move to split Afghanistan’s state reserves as detrimental to the country’s economy and future prospects.
Afghan economists call Joe Biden’s move as hasty and unfair. They said Biden’s decree could severely damage Afghanistan’s economic system and upset banking, monetary policy and national output.
“It has very negative effects on the Afghan economic sector,” said Taj Mohammad Talash, an economics expert. “Our banking situation is disrupted, our monetary policy is disrupted, our national production is disrupted, and foreign currencies against the Afghan currency are rising. Regional projects are being damaged and economic trust is being severely damaged.”
According to economists, the decree reflects Biden’s policy in the face of Afghanistan’s economic downturn, which could undermine the central bank’s monetary policy and market policy.
“The power of central bank monetary policy, foreign exchange policy, market policy, the exchange rate policy of the Afghan currency against foreign currency is being undermined,” said Saifuddin Seyhoun, another economist.
Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Afghanistan has called Biden’s decree unfair and its allocation for compensation and humanitarian aid as unrelated.
“Therefore, the Bank of Afghanistan considers the recent decision of the United States to freeze foreign exchange reserves and allocate it to unrelated purposes unfair to the people of Afghanistan and will never accept that Afghanistan’s foreign exchange reserves in the name of compensation,” said Saber Momand, a spokesman for the Da Afghanistan Bank.
The US President Joe Biden’s move to split Afghanistan’s state reserves worth some $ 7 billion has been widely condemned.
Last week, US President Joe Biden signed a decree freeing $ 7 billion of Afghanistan’s foreign exchange reserves. Under the decree, $ 3.5 billion is earmarked for humanitarian assistance and the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, and another $ 3.5 billion for compensation to the relatives of the victims of the 9/11 attacks in the United States.
The US President’s decision has provoked national and international reactions.
In the first place, the Islamic Emirate criticized the issuance of this decree, calling it an inhumane decision. Mohammad Naeem, a spokesman for its political bureau in Qatar, wrote on Twitter: “The theft and seizure of money blocked by the United States shows the lowest level of human and moral depravity of a country and a nation.”
Human Rights Watch also issued a statement calling the decision “problematic” for Afghanistan. The agency stressed that the frozen money belonged to Afghans and should be allocated to Afghan citizens
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