On February 11, local time, U.S. President Biden issued an executive order to "misappropriate" about $7 billion in assets frozen in the United States in Afghanistan, of which $3.5 billion (about 22.2 billion yuan) remained in the United States to compensate "9 11" victims, and another $3.5 billion in so-called trust funds to be distributed through humanitarian organizations to help the Afghan people. Screenshot of the White House website
As soon as the news was announced, Mohammad Naim, a spokesman for the Afghan interim government, reacted strongly, saying that Biden's move was "stealing" the property of the Afghan people.
Although Biden's executive order adopted the distribution method of "half to the United States and half to Afghanistan", it was still named "Executive Order on Protecting Specific Assets of the Central Bank of Afghanistan and Safeguarding the Interests of the Afghan People".
The "Information Note" released by the website on the same day also emphasized everywhere that the executive order issued by President Biden was "for the benefit of the Afghan people", and the executive order would allow "a substantial portion" of the frozen funds to be used to relieve the Afghan people. .
In mid-August last year, on the eve of the complete withdrawal of the U.S. military from Afghanistan, the U.S. government announced that it would freeze about $9.5 billion in assets (about 60.4 billion yuan) stored overseas by the Afghan Central Bank. The Associated Press said about $7 billion was stored in the United States, with the rest in Germany, the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland, among others.
Since then, Afghanistan has repeatedly requested the United States to unfreeze the overseas assets of the country's central bank due to serious economic problems, but to no avail.
According to the Associated Press report on the 11th, US President Biden rejected the proposal that "all $7 billion should be returned to Afghanistan". He said that under the US legal system, claimants of the "9.11" incident have the right to go to court to get compensation.
After the "9.11" incident, although there was no evidence that the Afghan Taliban was involved in the terrorist attack, Ata also condemned the attackers immediately after the air strike, but the US court still sentenced the Taliban and the "base" in absentia The organization has compensated the victims of the United States with 7 billion US dollars, and now there is no "al Qaeda" organization. This compensation has to be paid back with overseas assets belonging to the former Afghan government, the Afghan interim government and the Afghan people.
After Biden issued the executive order, the family of a victim named Brett Eagleson said they supported the distribution of most of the frozen assets to the Afghan people, but the rest should go to the victims Families split equally.
Not only that, the Associated Press also revealed that the half allocated to the victims of the "9.11" incident will go first, while the half allocated to the Afghan people will set up a so-called trust fund. The White House claims to study the details and is expected to return. Have to wait several months.
Such blatant "stealing" by the United States was severely criticized by Mohammad Naeem, spokesman for the Afghan interim government.
He said the U.S. "stealing and disposing of the frozen property of the Afghan people" showed the "highest moral and human depravity" of the country and its people. He also said the incident showed that the United States and its people were "defeated militarily and morally." In addition, many netizens in the Arab region also issued unanimous condemnations on social media.
America stole money from Afghanistan” (#USA_stole_money_from_afghan) has become a trending topic on Twitter, with hundreds of tweets per hour.
"Americans have been defeated by oppressed and impoverished Afghans and are now seeking revenge," one netizen said, along with a photo of an extremely emaciated, hungry child picking up bread crumbs. Another netizen said, "Our people are starving because of poverty, but you thieves are sharing money, what does 9/11 have to do with our money?