Women in Kabul rally to unfreeze Afghanistan's state reserves
Photo: Ali Khara / Reuters
Dozens of women in the Afghan capital of Kabul protested and demanded that the United States unfreeze Afghanistan's state reserves. This is reported by Aamaj News.
Afghans staged a rally because of the difficult economic situation. They chanted slogans calling on the administration of US President Joe Biden to return the money to the country.
Earlier, Pyotr Ilyichev, director of the Department of International Organizations of the Russian Foreign Ministry, predicted a global catastrophe due to the crisis in Afghanistan, if Western countries do not unfreeze Afghan accounts. He criticized a number of countries, including the United States, for refusing to help the Afghans because the unblocked accounts would be seized by the Taliban (a terrorist organization banned in Russia ) that seized power in the country.
In mid-August, after the Taliban seized power in the country, the International Monetary Fund and other Western organizations suspended programs to support the Afghan economy, which is dependent on foreign injections. In particular, the United States has cut off access to $ 7 billion in assets held by the American Federal Reserve System. They explained their decision by the fact that they could not transfer funds until the new government received international recognition. In addition, the Taliban were denied access even to the country's national reserve – the United States froze the assets of the Central Bank of Afghanistan in the accounts of its banks.
Despite this, in December, the UN provided humanitarian assistance to the country in the amount of $ 16 million.
