KABUL: Afghanistan’s former president on Sunday called a White House order to unfreeze $3.5 billion in Afghan assets held in the US for families of 9/11 victims an atrocity against the Afghan people.
Former President Hamid Karzai at a packed news conference sought the help of Americans, particularly the families of the thousands killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, to press President Joe Biden to rescind last week’s order. He called it “unjust and unfair.”
“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 Sept.11,” said Karzai. “We commiserate with them (but) Afghan people are as much victims as those families who lost their lives … Withholding money or seizing money from the people of Afghanistan in their name is unjust and unfair and an atrocity against Afghan people.”
President Biden’s order signed last Friday freed $7 billion in Afghan assets currently held in the US, to be divided between 9/11 victims and humanitarian aid to Afghans.
Sept. 11 victims and their families have legal claims against the Taliban and the $7 billion in the US banking system. The $3.5 billion was set aside for a US court to decide whether it can be used to settle claims by families of 9/11 victims. US courts would also have to sign off before the release of humanitarian assistance money.
We “ask the US courts to do the opposite, to return the Afghan money back to the Afghan people,” said Karzai. “This money does not belong to any government … this money belongs to the people of Afghanistan.”
Separately, the UN said on Sunday that four women activists in Afghanistan have been released by the country’s “de facto authorities” after going missing weeks ago.
Since storming back to power in August, the Taliban have cracked down on dissent by forcefully dispersing women’s rallies, detaining critics and often beating local journalists covering unsanctioned protests.
Tamana Zaryabi Paryani, Parwana Ibrahimkhel, Zahra Mohammadi and Mursal Ayar went missing after participating in an anti-Taliban rally, but Afghanistan’s current rulers had consistently denied detaining them.
“After a long period of uncertainty about their whereabouts and safety, the four ‘disappeared’ Afghan women activists, as well as their relatives who also went missing, have all been released by the de facto authorities,” the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said on Twitter.
