UN experts urge US to unblock USD 7 billion in Afghan funds

UN human rights experts have called for the United States to unblock $7 billion in foreign assets of the Da Afghanistan Bank to provide humanitarian assistance to cover the basic needs of tens of millions of people in the country, despite the critical humanitarian situation in Afghanistan.

In a statement released on Monday, they noted with regret the decision by the US administration to renew the blocking of Afghanistan central bank's foreign assets, and its intention to use part of it for other purposes within the US.

On February 11th, the US President Joe Biden signed an executive order that put the assets at the disposal of his administration to be used as compensation for the families of victims of the terrorist attacks against the US on Sept 11, 2001.

More than half of the country's population, particularly women and children, are at risk because of the growing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, which has put at serious risk the lives of more than half of the country's population.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the situation in the country as an epic humanitarian crisis on the verge of a development catastrophe and called for the US to reassess any adopted unilateral measure and to lift all obstacles in the provision of necessary financial and humanitarian aid.

The UN human rights experts estimate that the country has the highest number of people in need of emergency food assistance in the world, with more than 23 million people in need of aid, and about 95 percent of the population surviving insufficient food consumption.

There is particular concern about the vulnerability of more than 4 million internally displaced people, including people belonging to minorities, and more than 3.5 million seeking refuge in neighboring countries.

The US should not only return the assets of the Afghan people that it has illegally frozen, but it should also apologize to the Afghan people for the damage and suffering it has caused over the past 20 years of its military occupation of the country, but it should also compensate for the damage and suffering caused by the US military occupation of the country.

After destroying the country and destroying the future of several generations, the US has not only walked away, but intends to take the lifeline that the Afghan people depend on, which exposes the brutality and cruelty of the so-called rules-based international order that the US is trying to peddle to the rest of the world.