Richest country steals from the poorest: China

KABUL (Pajhwok): Chinese Foreign Ministry has said in response to US President Joe Biden's order on Afghanistan's capital that the world's richest country “is stealing money” from the world's poorest country.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, HuaChunying, made the remarks on her Twitter account.

“Whatever the pretext, the wealth of the Afghan people should be owned and controlled by themselves, especially  at their hour of greatest need,” she said.

US President Joe Biden has moved to freeze about $7bn in assets held in US financial institutions by the Afghan central bank in the wake of the Taliban takeover, as he vowed to direct $3.5bn to humanitarian aid and preserve the rest for families of victims of the September 11 terror attacks.

In an executive order signed on Friday, Biden directed “all property and interests in property” of the Afghan central bank in the US to be blocked and transferred to an account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, effectively cutting off the Taliban’s access to the US financial system.

A number of political analysts, current and former government officials and ordinary Afghans, have strongly condemned Biden’s order, saying no one has the right to distribute Afghans’ wealth to others.

Afghan women in an open letter to Biden also called the move as unjust and painful for Afghans. They said that Afghans were not involved in 9/11 attacks and the money should be returned to Afghanistan.

mds/ma