Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
February 11, 2022
U.S. President Joe Biden has signed an executive order that will free up some $7 billion in Afghan reserves that were frozen after the Taliban took control of the country in mid-August.
The United States will set up a trust fund in the coming months to administer half the $7 billion, a White House official said on February 11. The remaining $3.5 billion in will stay in the United States and be used to fund ongoing litigation by U.S. victims of terrorism, including for claims against the Taliban by the families of victims of the September 11 attacks.
Biden’s order addresses “the widespread humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan — including the urgent needs of the people of Afghanistan for food security, livelihoods support, water, sanitation, health, hygiene, shelter and settlement assistance, and COVID-19-related assistance, among other basic human needs — and the potential for a deepening economic collapse in Afghanistan,” Biden said in a letter to House Speaker Nance Pelosi (Democrat-California).
Biden said the preservation of Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) accounts held in U.S. financial institutions “is of the utmost importance to addressing this national emergency and the welfare of the people of Afghanistan.”
Biden’s order requires financial institutions to transfer Afghan Central Bank funds to a consolidated account at the New York Federal Reserve. U.S. officials say the overwhelming majority of frozen Afghan assets in the United States are proceeds of aid provided over two decades by U.S. and other donors.
The White House has come under pressure to release the funds to help Afghans, who are in the midst of an economic and financial crisis has threatened more than half of the country’s population with famine.
Taliban officials are holding talks this week in Geneva with international organizations on opening access to vital humanitarian aid which is being withheld as the de facto government in Kabul has yet to be recognized by any government around the world over concerns about human rights and freedoms.
Afghanistan has more than $9 billion in reserves, including just over $7 billion in reserves held in the United States. The remainder is mainly held in Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, and Qatar.
With reporting by Reuters and AP