US President Joe Biden indicated to US Congress he is extending the executive order for the “national emergency with respect to the widespread humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and the potential for a deepening economic collapse in Afghanistan.”
The Islamic Emirate called on Washington to not politicalize the issue of Afghanistan’s assets and to immediately release them.
“The foreign reserves or the assets of Afghanistan, which are frozen by the US, is the property of the people of Afghanistan and should not be politicalized. We want them to release the assets that they have frozen and not to waste the trust of the people of Afghanistan. The call for its extension is unnecessary. It is better that the officials take actions,” Islamic Emirate spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said.
“I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared in Executive Order 14064 with respect to the widespread humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and the potential for a deepening economic collapse in Afghanistan,” Biden said in the letter.
This comes as the Ministry of Finance (MoF) said the Afghan economic crisis is due to the freezing of assets.
A spokesman for the MoF, Ahmad Wali Haqmal, said that it is necessary that the assets be handed over to Da Afghanistan Bank.
“The main problem is the freezing of our money in reserves. If the money was not frozen and it was with the Central Bank, our economic conditions would have been better than the current situation,” he said.
The Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment (ACC) said that the freezing of Afghanistan assets has had a severe impact on Afghanistan.
“The majority of the problems that our traders have been facing now is that their money has been locked in the banks. The main reason is that the Afghanistan assets is not accessible,” said Mohammad Younus Momand, acting head of the ACCI.
US President Joe Biden in an executive decree on Feb. 12 split the $7 billion Afghan assets into two parts, half of which went to the Afghan trust fund in Switzerland and another half that was reserved for 9/11 victims.
