While the new Taliban regime is increasing calls for international recognition of their state to emerge from the economic crisis, the United States does not seem ready for rapprochement. Joe Biden on Friday signed an executive order allowing the seizure of $7 billion in Afghan central bank reserves deposited in the United States, the White House announced.
The US President, in a highly unusual move that sees the US taking possession of another state’s assets, requests that these funds be deposited in an account with the New York Federal Reserve, a public institution.
He would like half of this sum to be set aside for compensation claims made in particular by the families of victims of the attacks of September 11, 2001. The other half will be devoted to humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, but paid in such a way that the money does not fall into the hands of the Taliban, explained the White House.
“It is very important to be able to both take $3.5 billion and ensure that it is used for the benefit of the Afghan people” and also to guarantee that families of victims of terrorism “can have their voices heard before the American federal justice, explained a senior official of the White House during a press conference.
Millions of civilians threatened by famine
The latter acknowledged that the situation was “legally complicated”, and argued that Friday’s announcement was only the start of a procedure that should last for months. In total, the gross reserves of the Afghan Central Bank stood at the end of April 2021 at 9.4 billion dollars, according to the International Monetary Fund.
This sum, deposited before the Taliban regained power last August, is held mainly abroad, and for the most part in the United States. White House officials have argued that these reservations stem in part from international, particularly American, aid received by the country.
The path chosen by the American president will certainly arouse many controversies, at a time when Afghanistan is experiencing a serious humanitarian crisis. Millions of Afghans are threatened by hunger in the country deprived of international aid and affected by several droughts. Faced with this situation, the Taliban leaders have been trying since taking power to show that they have changed, particularly on the issue of human rights, in order to be able to benefit from this aid once more.