US President Joe Biden issued an executive order authorizing the release of half of the $7 billion in frozen Afghan funds held in the US for humanitarian aid to be made available for a possible payment to victims of the September 11 attacks.
A massive demonstration in Afghanistan on Saturday condemned Biden’s seizure of $3.5 billion in Afghan assets for families of America’s 9/11 victims.
The protesters pointed out that Afghans had nothing to do with the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that killed about 3,000 Americans.
The demonstrators who gathered in the Afghan capital of Kabul asked the US for financial compensation for the hundreds of thousands of Afghans killed during the 20-year-long US war and occupation of their country.
Afghanistan has about $9 billion in assets overseas, including the $7 billion in the United States. The rest is mostly in Germany, the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland.
On Friday, Biden signed an executive order allocating $3.5 billion in Afghan assets for humanitarian aid to a trust fund to be managed by the UN to provide aid to Afghans, and $3.5 billion allocated for the victims of the September 11 attacks.
This is while Afghanistan’s economy is teetering on the brink of collapse following a two-decade-long war against the country left it impoverished.
Afghanistan’s Central Bank called on Biden to reverse his order and release the funds to it, saying that the funds belonged to the people of Afghanistan and not a government, party or group, according to AP.
Even, Torek Farhadi, a financial adviser to Afghanistan’s former government, questioned the United Nations managing Afghan Central Bank reserves, saying the funds are not meant for humanitarian aid but “to back up the country’s currency, help in monetary policy and manage the country’s balance of payment.”
“These reserves belong to the people of Afghanistan, not the Taliban … Biden’s decision is one-sided and does not match with international law,” said Farhadi. “No other country on Earth makes such confiscation decisions about another country’s reserves.”
“What about our Afghan people who gave many sacrifices and thousands of losses of lives?” asked the demonstration’s organizer, Abdul Rahman, a civil society activist.
Rahman said demonstrations will be held across Kabul to protest Biden’s order. “This money belongs to the people of Afghanistan, not to the United States. This is the right of Afghans,” he said.
Placards in English accused the United States of stealing the money of Afghans.
Taliban political spokesman Mohammad Naeem accused the Biden administration of showing “the lowest level of humanity … of a country and a nation.”
Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at the US-based Wilson Center, called Biden’s order to divert $3.5 billion away from Afghanistan and allocate to the 9/11 victims “heartless.”
It’s great that $3.5B in new humanitarian aid for Afghanistan has been freed up. But to take another $3.5B that belongs to the Afghan people, and divert it elsewhere–that is misguided and quite frankly heartless. At the very least, it should have been retained as leverage.— Michael Kugelman (@MichaelKugelman) February 11, 2022
“It’s great that $3.5B in new humanitarian aid for Afghanistan has been freed up. But to take another $3.5B that belongs to the Afghan people, and divert it elsewhere–that is misguided and quite frankly heartless,” he tweeted.
The analyst also said the opposition to Biden’s order crossed Afghanistan’s wide political divide.
“I can’t remember the last time so many people of such vastly different worldviews were so united over a US policy decision on Afghanistan,” he tweeted.
9/11 was a series of strikes that killed nearly 3,000 people and caused about $10 billion worth of property and infrastructure damage in the United States.
US officials assert that the attacks were carried out by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists but many experts and independent researchers have raised questions about the official account.
They believe that rogue elements within the US government, such as then-Vice President Dick Cheney, orchestrated or at least encouraged the 9/11 attacks in order to expand funding for the US war machine and intelligence services and to advance the US geopolitical position in the Middle East.
Following the 9/11 attacks, the United States invaded and occupied Afghanistan, despite the fact that no Afghan was involved in the attacks. Hundreds of thousands of Afghans died in the US war on the country.
President Joe Biden is changing America’s views on immigration — but not the way he intended. Last year, Gallup polling showed a public that equally favored increases and decreases in immigration. Now the number of people who want less migration has nearly doubled, while calls for more immigration have dropped.
One way or the other, 58 percent of the surveyed voters say they are dissatisfied with how the White House is handling immigration.
“Biden has drawn criticism from both sides of the aisle for his border policy, and his approval ratings on immigration have been more negative than positive, with declining approval from Democrats,” Gallup reported. Among six major policy categories, Biden has his highest disapproval ratings and lowest approval scores on immigration.
The president’s current negatives on immigration among Republicans (87 percent) are three points above the previous high recorded in 2015, the last time a Democrat occupied the White House.
While a bare majority (52 percent) of Democrats remains satisfied with current immigration levels, Independents, including Libertarians, are more than three times as likely to say they want them decreased rather than increased.
Another survey – the weekly Rasmussen Immigration Index – has registered consistent public support for lower immigration levels since Biden took office. The index is now more than 15 points below where it was in late October 2020, meaning voters want tighter immigration controls.
Fifty-six percent of likely U.S. voters surveyed told Rasmussen this month that Washington is doing too little to reduce illegal border crossings and visitor overstays. Seventy-six percent of Republicans and 60 percent of Independents say not enough is being done. Thirty-four percent of Democrats took that position.
Ominously for the president, he is even under water with Latino voters. Citing a Quinnipiac Poll last fall, FAIR noted, “Despite the shrill rhetoric of lavishly funded organizations that purport to represent the interests of Hispanic-Americans, a mere 23 percent of Hispanic voters who were polled approve of President Biden’s immigration policies.”
About Author
Bob Dane, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)’s Executive Director, has been with FAIR since 2006. His deep belief is that immigration is the most transformational determinant of where we are heading as a nation and that our policies must be reformed in the public interest. Over many years on thousands of radio, TV and print interviews, Bob has made the case that unless immigration is regulated and sensibly reduced, it will be difficult for America to reduce unemployment, increase wages, improve health care and education and heighten national security. Prior to joining FAIR, Bob spent twenty years in network radio, marketing and communications after an earlier career in policy and budgeting within the Reagan Administration. Bob has a degree from George Mason University in Public Administration and Management.
According to a new study, taking over-the-counter pain medicines on a frequent basis can have unanticipated, perhaps catastrophic negative effects on a person’s hearing.
Women who take over-the-counter pain relievers like Advil or Tylenol on a weekly basis are up to 20% more likely to develop tinnitus, according to researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.
Researchers discovered that younger women in the study were at a higher risk.
Tinnitus is a disorder that affects around 20 million Americans, causing them to hear sounds that aren’t there. It’s most often linked with ringing in the ears, but it can also take the form of other sounds in the environment.
For some people, the illness is debilitating and has a significant negative influence on their lives.
Overusing’safe’, easily accessible drugs, according to researchers, can still cause problems in the long run, and people should make sure they are only…
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