Hundreds protest in Kabul against US decision on Afghan assets

Hundreds of people demonstrated in Kabul on Saturday against the United States’ decision to transfer $3.5 billion of the country’s frozen foreign reserves to a Swiss fund.

The protesters, who gathered in front of the former Afghanistan Human Rights Commission office, chanted anti-US slogans as they blamed the United States for the ongoing humanitarian and economic crisis in Afghanistan.

They called on human rights organizations to press the US to release Afghan assets.

“The $9 billion frozen assets belong to Afghanistan and it should be handed over to Afghanistan,” said Mudasir, a protester.

“By freezing the $9 billion assets, the US is killing the Afghan children economically,” said Lal Aqa Amiri, a protester.

On Wednesday, Washington announced it would transfer $3.5 billion in Afghan central bank assets into a new trust fund in Switzerland.

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) condemned the move as being against international norms.

Meanwhile, China said on Thursday that the US-blocked Afghan foreign reserves should be returned immediately so that Afghanistan could utilize the money independently.

“The frozen assets are life-saving money of Afghan people, which should be returned immediately, disposed of by Afghanistan independently, and used for the improvement of the livelihood and peaceful reconstruction,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, said.

Russia also condemned washington’s decision.

“We consider this step to contradict International Law and violate the sovereignty of the foreign state. The people of Afghanistan have the right to independently command assets belonging to them without any external control,” Russian embassy in Washington said on Thursday.

It added that such actions by the United States, “no matter which humanitarian mottos it uses as a smokescreen, will only exacerbate misery of the Afghan people.”