Taliban Warns It Will “Reconsider” Policy Towards US If It Does Not Receive Frozen Assets

Afghanistan’s hardline Islamic rulers say they plan to “reconsider” their policy towards the United States if the administration of President Joe Biden refuses to return the full $7 billion in assets that have been frozen in the United States.

President Biden issued an executive order last Friday calling on banks to set aside $3.5 billion of the frozen assets in a trust fund slated for humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan. The remaining $3.5 billion would stay in the United States to finance payments from lawsuits by U.S. victims of terrorism, specifically the September 11, 2001 attacks on Washington, D.C. and New York City, that are still working their way through the courts.

A spokesman for the Taliban issued a statement Monday saying the September 11 attacks “had nothing to do with Afghanistan.” The spokesman said if the United States “does not deviate from its position and continues its provocative actions, the Islamic Emirate will also be forced to reconsider its policy towards the country,” referring to Afghanistan’s official name.

FILE – Taliban officials walk down a hotel lobby during talks in Doha, Qatar, Aug. 12, 2021. The Taliban and the United States ended two days of meetings in Qatar on Nov. 30, 2021.

The Taliban ruled Afghanistan at the time of September 11 attacks, and harbored Osama bin Laden, the head of the al Qaida terrorist network and mastermind of the U.S. attacks. A U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan weeks after the attacks overthrew the Taliban after they refused Washington’s demands to surrender bin Laden.

The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan last August ended the nearly 20-year war, but the United Nations and other international relief groups say Afghanistan faces one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, which stems from more than four decades of conflict and natural calamities.

More than half of the country’s poverty-stricken population, or an estimated 24 million Afghans, face an acute food shortage and some one million children under five years of age could die from hunger by the end of this year, according to U.N. estimates following the U.S. withdrawal from the country.

Some information for this report came from Reuters and Agence France-Presse.

Biden to Split Frozen Afghan Funds for 9/11 Victims, Relief

WASHINGTON — 

President Joe Biden is expected to issue an executive order on Friday to move some $7 billion of the Afghan central bank’s assets frozen in the U.S. banking system to fund humanitarian relief in Afghanistan and compensate victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to a U.S. official familiar with the decision.

The order will require U.S. financial institutions to facilitate access to $3.5 billion of assets for the Afghan relief and basic needs. The other $3.5 billion would remain in the United States and be used to fund ongoing litigation by U.S. victims of terrorism, the official said. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the decision had not been formally announced.

International funding to Afghanistan was suspended and billions of dollars of the country’s assets abroad, mostly in the United States, were frozen after the Taliban took control of the country in mid-August.

The country’s long-troubled economy has been in a tailspin since the Taliban takeover. Nearly 80% of Afghanistan’s previous government’s budget came from the international community. That money, now cut off, financed hospitals, schools, factories and government ministries. Desperation for such basic necessities has been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as health care shortages, drought and malnutrition.

The official noted that U.S. courts where 9/11 victims have filed claims against the Taliban will also have to take action for the victims to be compensated.

The executive order is expected to be signed by Biden later on Friday.

The Taliban have called on the international community to release funds and help stave off a humanitarian disaster.

Afghanistan has more than $9 billion in reserves, including just over $7 billion in reserves held in the United States. The rest is largely in Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland and Qatar.

The Taliban are certain to oppose the split.

As of January the Taliban had managed to pay salaries of its ministries but was struggling to keep employees at work. They have promised to open schools for girls after the Afghan new year at the end of March, but humanitarian organizations are saying money is needed to pay teachers. Universities for women have reopened in several provinces with the Taliban saying the staggered opening will be completed by the end of February when all universities for women and men will open, a major concession to international demands.

The New York Times first reported on Biden’s coming order.

US Military Victims of Iranian Attacks Ask Biden for Frozen Funds

More than 1,000 U.S. military veterans and family members of those killed or wounded in attacks by Iran and its proxies are calling on President Joe Biden to compensate the victims of Iranian attacks before releasing frozen funds as part of nuclear negotiations with Tehran.

In a letter to the president obtained by VOA News, veterans and military family members wrote late last week that while they share Biden’s “view that Iran must never be allowed to develop and acquire nuclear weapons,” they feel that releasing frozen funds should not be an option until all of the estimated $60 billion of outstanding terrorism judgments against Iran and its proxies are “fully satisfied.”

“In our view, Iran’s frozen funds should go first to the regime’s American victims before a single dollar goes to the regime itself,” they wrote.

The letter asks Biden to meet with some of those “directly affected by this issue” and support their “efforts to hold Iran responsible for the deaths and maiming of thousands of Americans.”

U.S. officials have said Iran-backed militias killed hundreds of U.S. troops in the Iraq war, a claim Iran has denied.

Iran claimed responsibility for a 2020 attack on an Iraqi base hosting international forces that wounded more than 100 American troops, and Iran-backed militias continue to target U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria with rockets and armed drones.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on CBS’s Face the Nation Sunday the administration is committed to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and believes diplomacy is the best way to do that, but “time is running short.”

U.S. and European powers are currently in talks with Iran in Vienna over reviving a 2015 nuclear deal designed to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

In 2018, then-President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the accord and reimposed economic sanctions on Iran, blocking Tehran’s access to assets abroad.

Iran has asked the U.S. to unblock billions of dollars frozen by U.S. sanctions as a sign of goodwill. Last week, the U.S. Treasury allowed South Korea to send at least $63 million in overdue payments to an Iranian company, releasing a small portion of the Iranian assets frozen there by the sanctions.

The move appeared to be a step forward in nuclear negotiations in Vienna to rebuild trust between Iran and world powers and restore the 2015 deal.

South Korea’s Deputy Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun had visited the Austrian capital to meet with the U.S. special envoy for Iran, Robert Malley, earlier this month.