Afghan central bank calls for reversal of U.S. decision on splitting assets

KABUL, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) — Afghan central bank on Sunday issued a statement, calling for the reversal of the U.S. government’s decision on splitting the frozen Afghan assets in the United States.

The Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB)’s statement came after U.S. President Biden signed an executive order on Friday to free 7 billion U.S. dollars out of more than 9 billion frozen Afghan assets, splitting the money between humanitarian aid for cash-strapped Afghanistan and a fund for 9/11 victims.

“DAB considers the latest decision of USA on blocking Foreign Exchange (FX) Reserves and allocating them to irrelevant purposes, injustice to the people of Afghanistan and will never accept if the FX reserves of Afghanistan is paid under the name of compensation or humanitarian assistance to others and wants the reversal of the decision and release of all FX reserves of Afghanistan,” the bank said.

“As per the law and relevant regulations, FX reserves of Afghanistan are used to implement monetary policy, facilitate international trade and stabilize the financial sector,” the statement read.

The real owners of these reserves are the people of Afghanistan. These reserves were not the property of governments, parties and groups and is never used as per their demand and decisions, the bank’s statement added.

Mohammad Naeem, the spokesman of the Taliban political office in Qatar, on Friday criticized the decision on splitting the frozen Afghan assets in the United States.

“Stealing the blocked funds of Afghan nation by the United States and its seizure is indicative of the lowest level of the human and moral decay of a country and a nation,” Naeem wrote on Twitter.

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