{"id":8376,"date":"2022-02-11T22:11:10","date_gmt":"2022-02-11T22:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/?p=8376"},"modified":"2022-02-11T22:11:10","modified_gmt":"2022-02-11T22:11:10","slug":"us-president-inks-order-splitting-frozen-afghan-funds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/2022\/02\/us-president-inks-order-splitting-frozen-afghan-funds\/","title":{"rendered":"US President inks order splitting frozen Afghan funds"},"content":{"rendered":"

MONITORING (SW) –\u00a0United States President Joe Biden has signed an executive order creating the possibility of splitting $7bn in frozen Afghan funds held in the US, potentially allotting half for humanitarian aid to the country while keeping the other half available for possible seizure by victims of the September 11 attacks.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The executive order signed on Friday said the administration \u201cwill seek to facilitate access to $3.5 billion\u201d of the Afghan assets currently held by the Federal Reserve of New York \u201cfor the benefit of the Afghan people and for Afghanistan\u2019s future\u201d.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

However, it said the allocation of those funds would be \u201cpending a judicial decision\u201d. The White House also referenced legal claims by families of 9\/11 victims who\u00a0have said that they are entitled to the money\u00a0following previous default rulings against the Taliban and other groups named in earlier lawsuits.<\/p>\n

The Biden executive order said that even if the pending judgement allows $3.5bn to go to the people of Afghanistan, another $3.5bn would stay in the US and remain \u201csubject to ongoing litigation by US victims of terrorism\u201d, reported Al-Jazeera.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the White House said the order is \u201cdesigned to provide a path for the funds to reach the people of Afghanistan, while keeping them out of the hands of the Taliban and malicious actors\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Taliban\u2019s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021 prompted governments and international institutions to swiftly freeze Afghan Central Bank assets abroad, totalling about $10bn. About $7bn of that was held in the US.<\/p>\n

The Taliban has repeatedly called on the US and other governments and institutions to\u00a0release the funds, saying they were needed to stabilise Afghanistan\u2019s ravaged economy and prevent a humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n

The Taliban lashed out at the latest US move.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe theft and seizure of money held\/frozen by the United States of the Afghan people represents the lowest level of human and moral decay of a country and a nation,\u201d Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem said Friday on Twitter.<\/p>\n

The US does not recognise the Taliban as the legitimate government in Afghanistan and has designated the group a \u201cterrorist organisation\u201d. Rights groups have also called on the US to release the funds through humanitarian channels that largely bypass the Taliban.<\/p>\n

A senior US administration official said it will take months to unfreeze funds for aid to Afghanistan because of the continuing lawsuits, stressing that the money \u2013 regardless of the amount \u2013 would not be able to address Afghanistan\u2019s immediate humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause we have to go through a judicial process here, it is going to be at least a number of months before we can move any of this money, right? So this money isn\u2019t going to be available over the next couple of months regardless,\u201d the official told reporters early on Friday.<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s executive order came as the US government faced a court deadline to state its position on pending attempts by 9\/11 families to seize the Afghan funds.<\/p>\n

At least one group of families has argued that they are entitled to the funds based on a 2012 ruling that awarded them monetary damages in a case that named Osama bin Laden, the Taliban, al-Qaeda, and Iran, among other defendants.<\/p>\n

Other groups of victims\u2019 families have argued that they are also entitled to the funds based on default rulings, although those cases never progressed to a final ruling on damages.<\/p>\n

Prior to the Taliban takeover, Afghanistan\u2019s government was about 75 percent dependent on foreign aid. With that support cut off, the dire humanitarian situation in the country has spiralled.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
The United Nations has said 96 percent of Afghans could fall into poverty in 2022. Millions remain on the brink of famine in the country.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
ENDS<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MONITORING (SW) –\u00a0United States President Joe Biden has signed an executive order creating the possibility of splitting $7bn in frozen Afghan funds held in the US, potentially allotting half for humanitarian aid to the country while keeping the other half available for possible seizure by victims of the September 11 attacks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8377,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[179,16,17,18,200,5,234,8,6,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy-business","category-report","category-security_","category-peace","category-democracy-human-rights","category-politics_","category-us","category-governance","category-afghanistan","category-headline"],"views":470,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}