The latest audacity by America towards Afghanistan is their continued holding of seized Afghanistan bank accounts…

The Taliban Are Still Seeking Afghanistan’s Frozen Assets

So writes Foreign Policy columnist Lynne O’Donnell. With about $7 billion in Afghan central-bank assets still frozen in the US, O’Donnell writes, the Biden administration has advanced a plan to set aside half as compensation for 9/11 victims. Given the Taliban’s terrorist links, opacity as to where money would go if it were given to their government, and fears that Taliban officials would simply pocket it, O’Donnell writes that no one seems eager to hand over the cash.

…and this is outrageous because seizing that money has triggered a famine…

On the brink of famine, Afghanistan’s forgotten humanitarian catastrophe puts two decades of gains at risk

As the conflict in Ukraine enters its second month, the humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan is quickly becoming a forgotten crisis. The gains achieved over the past two decades – including women’s rights and education for all – are now at risk more than ever.

International aid agency World Vision warns that almost nine million people are already on the brink of slipping into famine, while more than 130,000 children could die with the country plunging into an economic collapse as the majority of international aid funding has ceased and billions of Afghan private assets remain frozen. Girls’ and women’ rights continue to be in grave danger as teenage girls, grade six and up, are no longer allowed to pursue an education.

“Afghanistan’s crisis has gotten worse since the start of the conflict in Ukraine. Attention has turned away, and the country has rapidly slipped into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Failure to act immediately will have grave consequences. We’re already seeing families selling their children or marrying them off. Many more children will suffer and die if Afghanistan is forgotten. We need to act now, release frozen funds, and agree to fund long-term development. Time is running out,” said Asuntha Charles, World Vision Afghanistan’s National Director.

…I’m not sure bombing a bronze age people back to the stone age and then stealing all their international funds after they have the audacity of kicking us occupiers out of their country that then plunges their country into a famine helps with our moral high ground when we lecture Russia.

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