Afghanistan

Giving them back half of the money that is rightfully theirs in the form of "aid"—instead of returning it to the banking system—is not only a band-aid that doesn't solve the country's liquidity problem—it's nearly impossible to do anyway, given the sanctions still in place. JULIE HOLLAR by Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) Two months ago (FAIR.org, 12/21/21), I noted the striking contrast between vocal media outrage—ostensibly grounded in concern for Afghan people—over President Joe Biden's withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, and the relative silence over the growing humanitarian crisis in that country, which threatens millions with life-threatening levels of famine. While influenced by drought and Taliban policies, the current crisis is primarily driven...

BY VIJAY PRASHAD Photograph Source: DVIDSHUB – CC BY 2.0 On February 8, 2022, UNICEF (the United Nations Children’s Fund) Afghanistan sent out a bleak set of tweets. One of the tweets, which included a photograph of a child lying in a hospital bed with her mother seated beside her, said: “Having recently recovered from acute watery diarrhea, two years old Soria is back in the hospital, this time suffering from edema and wasting. Her mother has been by her bedside for the past two weeks anxiously waiting for Soria to recover.” The series of tweets by UNICEF Afghanistan show that Soria is not alone in her suffering. “One in three adolescent girls suffers from anemia” in Afghanistan, with the country struggling with “one of the world’s highes...

With some 23 million people in extreme hunger and a million children under age five in immediate danger of starvation, the U.S. should unfreeze all of Afghanistan’s Central Bank assets. KATHY KELLY During visits to Kabul, Afghanistan, over the past decade, I particularly relished lingering over breakfasts on chilly winter mornings with my young hosts who were on their winter break from school. Seated on the floor, wearing coats and hats and draped with blankets, we’d sip piping hot green tea as we shared fresh, warm wheels of bread purchased from the nearest baker. But this winter, for desperate millions of Afghans, the bread isn’t there. The decades-long U.S. assault on Afghanistan’s people has now taken the vengeful form of freezing their shattered, starving country’s ...

"The real owners of these reserves are people of Afghanistan," the bank declared in response to the seizure of over $7 billion by the U.S. government. JON QUEALLY The central bank of Afghanistan pushed back firmly Saturday against an executive order issued a day earlier by U.S. President Joe Biden to seize over $7 billion in foreign exchange assets—a move that humanitarians have denounced as unbelievably cruel given the suffering of the Afghan people as its economy and healthcare systems teeter on the brink of collapse with millions facing starvation and freezing winter temperatures. In a statement posted online, Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) rejected the White House's claim that the seizure of billions in Foreign Exchange Reserves (FX) was done in the na...

The U.S. should unfreeze Afghan government assets and lift sanctions hindering the recovery of the Afghan economy and humanitarian relief efforts. We must end the U.S. economic war on Afghanistan. JEAN ATHEY I have a beloved 4-year-old granddaughter. If I lived in Afghanistan, my family would be facing the likelihood that she would die. My heart breaks in pieces thinking of this. The UN estimated a million children under the age of five in Afghanistan will die this winter from malnutrition and starvation, a situation brought on primarily by the U.S., through economic sanctions and the freezing of Afghan assets in U.S. banks. How did we get to this point? Brown University's Cost of War project found that 69,095 soldiers and national police and an estim...

"I can't think of a worse betrayal of the people of Afghanistan than to freeze their assets and give it to 9/11 families," said one person whose brother was killed on Sept. 11, 2001. JON QUEALLY Humanitarians—including those who lost loved ones in the 9/11 attacks of 2001—responded with condemnation Friday after it was reported that President Joe Biden has decided to permanently seize $7 billion of currently frozen Afghan assets even as the people of the war-torn and poverty-stricken nation suffer a broken economy, a collapsed healthcare system, and widespread starvation. "I cannot describe for you in words how outrageous this is." According to the New York Times, the Biden administration will soon formally announce a plan to make half of the $7 bi...

"President Biden has the opportunity to make amends right now! He can unfreeze the funds belonging to the Afghan people," said one 9/11 widow. BRETT WILKINS As U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar on Friday led condemnation of a reported Biden administration plan to permanently seize $7 billion of currently frozen Afghan assets and distribute half to relatives of 9/11 victims, advocates pointed to the worsening humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and urged President Joe Biden to change course.  "This is theft. Graft. Amid famine, no less. Newsflash: Zero of the 9/11 terrorists were Afghan." Noting that "there wasn't a single Afghan" among the 9/11 hijackers—and the U.S. gives billions of dollars to the Saudi and Egyptian governments despite their "direct ...

People wait to receive aid provided by a charity on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, on January 30, 2022. BYBrett Wilkins, Common Dreams As U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar on Friday led condemnation of a reported Biden administration plan to permanently seize $7 billion of currently frozen Afghan assets and distribute half to relatives of 9/11 victims, advocates pointed to the worsening humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and urged President Joe Biden to change course. Noting that “there wasn’t a single Afghan” among the 9/11 hijackers — and the U.S. gives billions of dollars to the Saudi and Egyptian governments despite their “direct ties to the 9/11 terrorists” — Omar (D-Minn.) tweeted that punishing millions of starving people is “unconscionable.” Omar...