Afghanistan: Hamid Karzai criticizes Joe Biden's order on Afghanistan's assets

Facing an extreme humanitarian crisis, Afghanistan is in dire need of aid to deter the major issue. However, Afghanistan’s former president Hamid Karzai criticized the recent order by US President Joe Biden to split the frozen Afghanistan funds between Afghans and the families of the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Karzai criticized the US leader for the decision to split the frozen assets that were seized following the collapse of Afghanistan’s western-backed government in August 2021. Karzai called the order an atrocity against the Afghan people, urging the US government to reverse the order.

Biden signed the order Friday last week, splitting the $7.1 billion in Afghanistan’s frozen assets between the country and the 9/11 victims’ families. The families filed lawsuits against the Taliban, demanding compensation. $3.5 billion that would go to the victims’ families would be set aside for those who will file lawsuits to gain access to the funds.

“The people of Afghanistan share the pain of the American people, share the pain of the families and loved ones of those who died, who lost their lives in the tragedy of September 11,” said Karzai during a press conference. “We commiserate with them, Afghan people are as much victims as those families who lost their lives. Withholding money or seizing money from the people of Afghanistan in their name is unjust and unfair and an atrocity against Afghan people.”

Karzai went on to say that they “ask the courts to do the opposite, to return the Afghan money back to the Afghan people. This money does not belong to any government…this money belongs to the people of Afghanistan.”

Meanwhile, CNN reports that eight western nationals have been arrested and detained by the Taliban in different incidents in the past two months. While there have been no formal charges made against them, the detained group includes six British citizens, one of them being a legal resident in the US, and one US citizen, according to people familiar with the matter.

Among the group were British journalists Andrew North and Peter Jouvenal. North was in Afghanistan working for the United Nations and was previously in BBC. Jouvenal worked on both BBC and CNN.