Afghans protest US decision on frozen funds

KABUL (TOLOnews): Dozens of Afghans held a protest in Kabul over the United States’ recent decision to transfer part of Afghanistan’s frozen funds to a bank in Switzerland.
The protesters said the money should be transferred to Afghanistan’s central bank.
“The US has frozen $9 billion of Afghanistan’s assets that belong to the people of Afghanistan who are facing poverty. We ask the US to unlock the fund,” said Jawed Kashifi, a Kabul resident.
“The money needs to be freed now. The Afghan people are struggling financially. If this money doesn’t help us in this condition, what is it for?” said another protester.
The protesters claimed that the American and British soldiers had violated human rights in Afghanistan and urged the International Criminal Court to prosecute them.
“We ask the international criminal court to bring the murderers who escaped from Afghanistan to justice,” said Saqib a protester.
“We want the American and Britain military officers who oppressed in Afghanistan to be sent to justice international courts,” said Lal Mohammad, another protester.
This comes as US established a fund to assist the people of Afghanistan, known as the “Afghan Fund,” through the Departments of the Treasury and of State, in cooperation with international partners including the government of Switzerland and Afghan economic experts.
The US State Department said that in the fund, $3.5 billion of assets of the Central Bank of Afghanistan will be preserved and spent for the stability of the Afghan economy.
But the Islamic Emirate asserted that US should send the fund to the central bank because it is the Afghan people’s property.
“Anyone, institution, or corporation that uses the money of the Central Bank of Afghanistan under the pretext of humanitarian relief and other operations will be prevented,” said Abdul Rahman Habib, spokeswoman for the ministry of economy.
The US and the international community have frozen more than $7 billion in assets of the central bank belonging to Afghanistan since the re-establishment of the Islamic Emirate.