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US announces plans to ease restrictions on Afghanistan

Saturday, 26 February 2022 7:41 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 26 February 2022 7:41 PM ]

Afghans carry away food packets distributed by the UN World Food Program (WFP) to the needy families in Kandahar on December 23, 2021. (Photo by AFP)

The United States has announced plans to ease its sanctions for businesses in Afghanistan as the people face food insecurity and hunger there following the two-decade-long US war of aggression against the impoverished country.

The UN World Food Program (WFP) warned recently that almost all people in Afghanistan “do not have enough to eat," after the US invaded and occupied the country following the 9/11 attacks in the US. Afghanistan had nothing to do with the attacks.

The US Treasury Department ease of sanctions is the seventh so-called general license to aid Afghanistan, clarifying the institutions and sectors of the Kabul government with which entities can do business without violating the harsh economic sanctions imposed on the Afghan nation following the US military's abrupt exit and the subsequent Taliban's sudden seizure of the country in August 2021.

“The license will ensure US sanctions do not stand in the way of transactions and activities needed to provide aid and support the basic human needs of the people of Afghanistan. They reflect our deep commitment to supporting the people of Afghanistan during this ongoing humanitarian and economic crisis,” a senior Biden administration official was quoted as saying on Friday.

The US Treasury's previously issued general licenses had mainly outlined how nonprofit organizations were allowed to provide humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. The new general license, however, allows banking, infrastructure development and maintenance, commercial trade, safety and maintenance operations for transportation systems, and telecommunications to operate.

The Treasury's waiver comes after 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. Biden's' move met with angry reaction in Kabul.

'People's money': Protests rage on against Biden's move to split Afghan funds

Protests against US President Joe Biden’s move to confiscate foreign reserves of Afghanistan and distribute them among the families of 9/11 victims have spread across the crisis-stricken country.

The Taliban described Biden's action as "theft", as well as a sign of Washington's "moral decay." They warned Biden the decision to take Afghan people's much-needed money would prompt them to make new considerations in their foreign policy.

Afghanistan says it has about $9 billion in overseas deposits, $7 billion deposited in the US, and the rest in Germany, the United Arab Emirates, and Switzerland.

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