Karzai: US Money Seizure ‘Atrocity’ Against Afghans

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Hamid Karzai

Ayaz Gul
VOA News
February 13, 2022

ISLAMABAD — Afghanistan’s former president, Hamid Karzai, joined the Taliban rulers Sunday in urging the United States to review its decision to allow half of the roughly $7 billion in his country’s foreign frozen assets to be reserved for families of victims of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.

“The people of Afghanistan share the pain of the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives in the tragedy of September 11. We commiserate with them,” Karzai told a news conference in Kabul.

However, the “Afghan people are as much victims as those families who lost their lives,” Karzai said. “Withholding money or seizing money from the people of Afghanistan in that name is unjust and unfair and an atrocity against the Afghan people.”

Da Afghanistan Bank, that country’s central bank, had funds on deposit at the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The money has been frozen since August, when the U.S.-backed Afghan government collapsed and the Taliban seized control of the country.

Critics say the U.S. freezing of Afghan funds has worsened an already bad humanitarian situation in the conflict-torn country and pushed its foreign-aid dependent economy to the brink of collapse.

On Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden issued an executive order calling on banks to set aside $3.5 billion of the frozen assets in a trust fund slated for humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan. The remaining funds, $3.5 billion, would stay in the United States to finance payments from lawsuits by U.S. victims of terrorism that are still working their way through the courts.

“I ask the U.S. courts to do the opposite, to return the Afghan money back to the Afghan people. This money does not belong to any government. Much of this money was collected during my time in office. This is the property of the Afghan people,” Karzai said.

Karzai served as president for 13 years starting December 2001, shortly after the U.S.-led foreign military invasion ousted the then-Taliban government from power for harboring al-Qaida planners of the 9/11 terror attacks on the United States.

Washington and the global community at large have not recognized the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

U.S. officials have said Biden’s executive order also “is designed to provide a path for the funds to reach the people of Afghanistan, while keeping them out of the hands of the Taliban’s malicious actors.”

Taliban authorities condemned the unilateral U.S. move, saying it “shows the lowest level of morality and humanity of a country and a nation.”

Suhail Shaheen, the Taliban permanent representative-designate to the United Nations, on Sunday reiterated his government’s call for Washington to release the Afghan funds, saying using them for any other purpose was unacceptable.

“It is only used for implementation of monetary policy, facilitation of trade and boosting financial system of the country,” Shaheen argued.

“It is never intended to be used for any other purpose rather than that. Its freezing or disbursement unilaterally for any other purpose is injustice and not acceptable to the people of Afghanistan,” the senior Taliban official wrote on Twitter.

Meanwhile, Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi traveled to Doha on Sunday for meetings with representatives of European Union, Gulf countries, and foreign diplomatic missions to Afghanistan operating out of the capital of Qatar after the fall of Kabul to the Islamist group last summer. Taliban sources said Muttaqi would also raise in the meetings Biden’s controversial order on frozen Afghan funds.

Protesters gathered in the Afghan capital Saturday, asking for financial compensation for the tens of thousands of Afghans killed during the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.

The U.S. withdrawal last August ended the nearly 20-year war. but United Nations and other international relief groups say Afghanistan faces one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, which stems from more than four decades of conflict and natural calamities.

More than half of the country’s poverty-stricken population, or an estimated 24 million Afghans, face an acute food shortage and some one million children under age 5 could die from hunger by the end of this year, according to U.N. estimates following the U.S. withdrawal from the country.

Related

Many Afghan Radio Stations Closed in Past 6 Months: Watchdog

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Tolo News: At least 86 radio stations have halted operations over the past six months, media watchdog organizations reported, saying financial and political issues are the main reasons for the collapse of the Afghan media.  February 13th marked the UN’s World Radio Day. Click here to read more (external link).

Four Missing Female Activists Reportedly Released In Afghanistan

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Tamana Paryani

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
February 13, 2022

Four female activists in Afghanistan who went missing several weeks ago have been released by the country’s de facto Taliban authorities, the United Nations said on February 13.

The four women — Tamana Paryani, Parwana Ibrahimkhel, Zahra Mohammadi, and Mursal Ayar — went missing after attending an anti-Taliban rally in Kabul.

The Taliban repeatedly denied detaining them.

“After a long period of uncertainty about their whereabouts and safety, the four ‘disappeared’ Afghan women activists, as well as their relatives who also went missing, have all been released by the de facto authorities,” the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) posted on Twitter.

It was not immediately clear where the women had been or what they had undergone.

Ibrahimkhel and Paryani have been missing since January 19. Mohammadi and Ayar went missing in early February.

Shortly before her disappearance, Paryani posted a video on social media in which she warned that Taliban militia were at her door.

Since taking power in Afghanistan in August, the Taliban has cracked down on dissent and have dispersed rallies calling for women’s rights to be observed and have detained critics and journalists.

Based on reporting by AFP and dpa

Copyright (c) 2022. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

WHO: Measles Increase a Danger to Malnourished Afghan Children

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Lisa Schlein
VOA News
February 12, 2022

GENEVA — The World Health Organization warns a sharp rise in measles cases in Afghanistan is threatening the lives and well-being of millions of malnourished children.

More than 35,300 suspected cases of measles and 156 deaths have been reported in Afghanistan from January 2021 through January of this year. What is setting off alarm bells ringing is the sharp, rapid rise in cases last month.

The World Health Organization reports a 40% increase in the number of measles cases in the last week of January. Although the number of deaths is relatively low, the WHO warns many children are likely to die from the disease in the coming weeks.

WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier says measles-related deaths are not always reported in Afghanistan, so the toll is likely to be much higher than the figures suggest.

“The rise in measles cases is especially concerning because of the extremely high levels of malnutrition in Afghanistan,” Lindmeier said. “Malnutrition weakens immunity, making people more vulnerable to illness and death from diseases like measles—especially children. In addition, measles infections can cause immune system suppression and immunologic amnesia, which increases susceptibility to all pathogens.”

The World Food Program says Afghanistan is facing the worst food crisis on record. It says 1 in 3 people are going hungry and some 2 million children are malnourished. The WFP warns 14 million children are expected to face potentially life-threatening levels of hunger, noting that malnutrition rates already are soaring.

Measles is an extremely contagious viral disease. Lindmeier says unvaccinated young children are at highest risk of getting sick and dying from it.

In December, he says, an immunization campaign was carried out in response to a measles outbreak. He says the campaign reached 1.5 million children in some of the most-affected provinces.

“Now, WHO is helping to plan for a larger measles outbreak response immunization campaign, which will start in May, or earlier if possible, aiming to reach more than 3 million children nationwide,” Lindmeier said. “Support from WHO includes helping with the process needed to secure additional vaccines and devices, as well as the operational funds and the support for planning the campaign.”

The WHO says strengthening routine immunization is the best way to protect people, especially children, from getting measles. The agency urges governments to make sure at least 95 percent of their populations receive two doses of measles-containing vaccine.

Other Afghan Health News

Pakistan Supports Biden’s Decision on Afghanistan’s Assets

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Joe Biden

8am: Following Joe Biden’s executive order to cut Afghanistan’s foreign exchange reserves and release another part of the country’s funds, Pakistan’s representative to the United Nations Munir Akram said: “Half a loaf of bread is better than nothing.” Click here to read more (external link).

Related

As Afghan Economy Stalls, Shopkeepers Complain Of Taliban’s Increasingly Coercive Attitude

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Shopkeepers in Kabul’s market believe that without the Taliban, it would be shut down by now, as people have no money. In a call-in program broadcast by RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi, a shopkeeper who chose to remain anonymous said on February 8 that the only thing that keeps it open are Taliban enforcers, who demand traders keep their shops open and stocked even though business is virtually gone. He is also critical of the Taliban’s handling of what little international aid there is. Call-in programs produced by Radio Azadi are continuing to reach listeners in Afghanistan, despite the Taliban takeover of the country on August 15, 2021.

Taliban Free UN-Linked Foreign Journalists, Others

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Zabihullah Mujahid

Ayaz Gul
VOA News
February 11, 2022

ISLAMABAD — Afghanistan’s Taliban said Friday that they had released from custody two foreign journalists and their local colleagues after “verifying their identities.”

The announcement came hours after the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had confirmed the detention of the journalists in the capital, Kabul, saying they were working for the relief agency and efforts were under way to secure their release.

“We are relieved to confirm the release in Kabul of the two journalists on assignment with UNHCR, and the Afghan nationals working with them,” the refugee agency tweeted late Friday.

“We are grateful to all who expressed concern and offered help. We remain committed to the people of Afghanistan.”

The detention had sparked international outcry, with critics denouncing it as an assault on free media by the country’s Islamist rulers.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid contended that the foreigners were taken into custody for failing to produce necessary documents to prove their association with the international organization they said they were working for.

“They were in good condition and in contact with their families. Their identities have now been established and they have been set free,” Mujahid wrote on Twitter in local language. He shared no other details.

Afghanistan’s former vice president, Amrullah Saleh, was the first to report via his Twitter the detention, saying the Taliban had “kidnapped” nine Westerners, including former BBC journalist Andrew North. He identified another Westerner in custody as Peter Jouvenal.

“Due to no media, no reporting by citizens and a suffocating atmosphere corruption, crime and atrocities aren’t well exposed,” Saleh wrote. “As an example, nine citizens of western countries have been kidnapped, amongst them Andrew North of BBC & Peter Jouvenal, owner of Gandomak Restaurant.”

North, who has reported from Baghdad and Beirut for the BBC, has been working as an independent journalist in Afghanistan and meeting with Taliban leaders, according to his personal website.

Natalia Antelava, North’s wife and a journalist, asked via Twitter for help in securing the release of her husband.

“Andrew was in Kabul working for the UNHCR & trying to help the people of Afghanistan,” she wrote. “We are extremely concerned for his safety & call on anyone with influence to help secure his release.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists in a statement denounced the detentions, saying they were a sad reflection of the overall decline of press freedom and increasing attacks on journalists under Taliban rule.

“Andrew North and the other unidentified journalist should be freed immediately and allowed to continue their work, and the Taliban must halt its repeated attacks on and harassment of journalists,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator.

The CPJ quoted a U.N. official in Kabul as telling the media rights group on the condition of anonymity that North was detained on Tuesday.

The Taliban have been cracking down on dissent since regaining control of Afghanistan last August, briefly arresting dozens of local journalists and allegedly subjecting some of them to physical violence. But no foreign journalists have been detained until now.

On Friday, Taliban authorities reportedly also released several female activists whom they had allegedly arrested days ago for taking part in anti-government protests and demanding rights for women.

Parwana Ibrahimkhel, who was among the missing activists, told the private Afghan TOLO news channel that she was freed by the Taliban on Friday and that she was in good health. Ibrahimkhel said other female activists were also released from Taliban custody, but she gave no details.

The Taliban, who had denied they were behind the disappearances, have not yet commented on Ibrahimkhel’s assertions.

The United Nations and rights groups had been pressing the Islamist group to investigate and locate the women.

“I am increasingly concerned about the well-being of missing women activists in Afghanistan. Several have ‘disappeared,’ some not heard from in weeks,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres tweeted on Thursday.

“I strongly urge the Taliban to ensure their safety so that they can return home,” he said.