Afghanistan’s money belongs to its people and only they have the right to decide how to use it, Afghan government officials and analysts said, while calling on the United States to release the frozen assets of Afghanistan’s central bank to the Afghans in need.
It is incorrect to say any asset of Afghanistan’s central bank is part of an “aid” by another country to the Afghan people, they stressed.
The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) of the United States in its latest report released on May 3 showed that the US has “appropriated or otherwise made available $17.19 billion in assistance to Afghanistan and to Afghan refugees”, since the withdrawal of US troops in August 2021, reported Tolo News, an Afghan news channel and website broadcasting from Kabul.
Moiz Farooq, executive editor of Daily Ittehad Media Group and Pakistan Economic Net, told China Daily that the freezing of over $9 billion in Afghan assets, coupled with the move of transferring $3.5 billion to a special fund creates additional uncertainty for Afghanistan's financial system
SIGAR, the US government's leading oversight authority for Afghanistan’s reconstruction, said the funds include humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan and money for relocating and resettling Afghans who have previously served the US government.
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As part of the total amount of $17.19 billion, $3.5 billion in assets were “transferred from Afghanistan’s central bank to the Afghan people or the Afghanistan Resilience Trust Fund”, according to SIGAR, which is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia in the US, with offices in Kabul and various other locations throughout Afghanistan, according to its official website.
Yet Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid responded that, "The money of the people of Afghanistan, which has been seized and belongs to Afghanistan, and can never be considered as a favor by anyone and has not yet been made accessible to the Afghan people, should be freed as soon as possible."
Mir Shekib Mir, an economic analyst was quoted by Tolo News as saying, "The transfer of $3.5 billion from the blocked foreign currency reserves of Afghanistan by the US to the trust fund in Switzerland, reported in the sum of US government aid to the people and the reconstruction of the Afghan economy, I think, is purely a mistake.”
Amina Khan, director of the Centre for Afghanistan, Middle East and Africa at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad, said the fact that an amount “has been diverted and spent on developmental aid for Afghanistan, as well as on the evacuation, resettlement, and hosting of certain Afghan refugees in the US is disingenuous as resettlement is the responsibility of the US – Afghan money should not be used for this matter.”
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She told China Daily, “On the contrary this amount should have been spent and invested in the country to bring development, revive the economy and provide employment opportunities.”
Apart from it, moving $3.5 billion from the central bank of Afghanistan to ARTF as part of the $17.19 billion in 2022 is “a great injustice to the people of Afghanistan”. She explained that this is primarily because the relocation is wrong in the first place and how this money should be spent is the prerogative of the Afghan people.
According to her, looking at the trajectory of past decisions, one does not expect a drastic change in stance from the US on this matter. “Regardless, a thorough revisit of the current policy (of the US), particularly the issue of Afghan funds, needs to be looked into,” Khan added.
In the wake of the withdrawal of the US-led forces from Afghanistan in August 2021, the White House froze the overseas assets of Afghanistan's central bank, worth more than $9 billion, and later claimed to be allocating part of the sum to the US victims of the 9/11 attacks.
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US President Joe Biden said earlier this year that Afghanistan's foreign reserves would remain frozen beyond Feb 11, 2024.
Moiz Farooq, executive editor of Daily Ittehad Media Group and Pakistan Economic Net, told China Daily that the freezing of over $9 billion in Afghan assets, coupled with the move of transferring $3.5 billion to a special fund creates additional uncertainty for Afghanistan's financial system.
Living conditions remain hard for Afghan families as two-thirds of households continue to struggle with basic food and non-food needs, a World Bank survey published in November said
“With only a fraction of these resources accessible through the ARTF and the remaining funds under US control, Afghanistan faces significant challenges in maintaining macroeconomic stability,” he told China Daily.
He added that the restrictions on these funds risk further crippling an economy already struggling to sustain vital public services, import essential goods, and maintain currency stability. “This, in turn, could exacerbate the humanitarian crisis affecting millions of Afghans and further destabilize the region.”
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For Afghanistan to regain economic momentum and build a sustainable future, it needs access to its financial reserves, according to Farooq. A prolonged freeze of these assets restricts the government's ability to manage its economy effectively and leaves it more vulnerable to economic shocks, he said.
Imtiaz Gul, executive director of the Center for Research and Security Studies in Pakistan said that the $3.5 billion that SIGAR mentioned relates to the era of Afghanistan’s former president, Ashraf Ghani. “Taliban says this is Afghan money, it can’t be given to anybody,” he said.
He added that Afghanistan’s central bank is under US sanctions, and its consequences are debilitating for the people and government of Afghanistan, because the government and its financial institutions are cut off from the global financial system. “This means extremely limited capacity to transact financially. It limits the financial capacity of the Taliban.”
Living conditions remain hard for Afghan families as two-thirds of households continue to struggle with basic food and non-food needs, a World Bank survey published in November said.
