The Taliban ask the US to unfreeze funds to Afghanistan

22 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The authorities set up by the Taliban in Afghanistan have asked the United States to lift sanctions on the frozen Afghan funds after a US federal judge ruled yesterday that the victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11 cannot benefit from these 3,500 millions of dollars.

“The release of Afghan assets would have a direct impact on the country’s economic situation,” said a spokesman for the Ministry of Economy, Abdul Rahman Habib, according to the Tolo news portal.

For its part, the Central Bank of Afghanistan has welcomed the US judge’s decision while also calling for the lifting of sanctions on Afghan assets, which should be incorporated into the Afghan financial system.

This comes after a US federal judge in the state of New York ruled, in a 30-page ruling, that 9/11 victims cannot seize the funds as the US lacks legal jurisdiction to do so.

Specifically, Judge George Daniels of the southern district of New York ruled the day before that the possible seizure of the 3.5 billion dollars would also mean recognizing ‘de facto’ the authorities established by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

“They have the right to (…) be compensated for the worst terrorist attack in the history of our nation, but they cannot do it with the funds of the Central Bank of Afghanistan,” he said in the letter, adding that they are the Taliban, not the Afghan people, those who have to “pay for the responsibility” of 9/11, according to the newspaper ‘The New York Times’.

The president of the United States, Joe Biden, ordered the unfreezing of some 3,500 million dollars (about 3,000 million euros) in assets, although another 3,500 million dollars were in dispute for his claim before the US Justice.

The Taliban have demanded on several occasions that the United States unfreeze these funds and hand them over to the new authorities and have argued that Washington’s refusal is deepening the serious crises in the Central Asian country and limiting its ability to respond to the situation.

However, the United States views these requests with suspicion and considers that there is no way to guarantee that the money will not be diverted to other purposes, including support for terrorism. The Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, has repeatedly argued that “the 9/11 attacks have nothing to do with the Afghans.”