US should compensate Afghans: University professors

KABUL (Pajhwok): A number of Afghan university professors have condemned the US president’s decision regarding the central bank’s foreign exchange reserves and called on the international community and international organizations to speak out against the unjust decision.
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 Feb 11, 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.
Afghan university lecturers in a meeting today called the US President’s decision a completely irresponsible and unjust act and condemned it.
Najibullah Amarkhel, deputy chancellor of Kabul Medical University, told the meeting that the US decision was weak and full of hatred.
The US had imposed war on the Afghan people over the last several years and used all kinds of bombs on this country, now instead of compensating the Afghan people from its budget, it is extorting money from the Afghan people, he said.
Amarkhel also read out a seven-article resolution and called the decision a blatant insult to the Afghan people.
An article of the resolution says, “The foreign exchange reserves of Da Afghanistan Bank are aimed at stabilizing the currency, stabilizing and maintaining the balance of payments, facilitating international trade transactions.”
“Afghan university professors consider its allocation for humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people and to compensate the victims of 9/11 attacks as unfair and a step towards the collapse of the country’s economic system and the punishment of the Afghan people.”
“The US and its allies have occupied Afghanistan’s airspace for the past 20 years, killing thousands of innocent Afghans and disabled and displaced millions of others, which is considered a war crime under international law,” the resolution read.
It read that the US should pay compensation to the Afghan people for the conflict.
Another professor, Mohammad Akbar Mir said that the 9/11 attacks had no any links with the Afghan people, directly or indirectly.
“This is a US decision to steal, oppress and violate the rights of the Afghan people,” he said.
The Afghan Teachers’ Union called on the international community, international organizations, human rights organizations, the American people and Afghanistan to stand against the injustice.
mds/ma