Youth rally in Kandahar to demand release of Afghan assets

KANDAHAR CITY (Pajhwok): The youth on Friday staged a protest demonstration in southern Kandahar province, asking the world to force the US to unfreeze Afghanistan’s assets.

Naqib Qane, a member of the youth movement, said the United States and NATO had committed crimes in Afghanistan over the past 20 years, killing people, destroying their homes and freezing more than $9.5 billion in assets.

"The world must compel the United States to hand over the frozen money to Afghanistan in order to alleviate the economic problems here," he said.

He added: "The United States must compensate Afghans for the crimes it has committed here in the last 20 years."

Another protester, Sarwar, said the United States should be prosecuted for the atrocities it committed against Afghans and should pay compensation to Afghans.

He said it was unfair decision of the US to freeze Afghanistan’s assets because the Afghans were now living in poverty.

He said they were not only asking the US to unfreeze the Afghan assets but also demanded compensation for the houses the country destroyed and people it killed.

Another member of the movement, Javed Ahmad Rehan, said Afghanistan faced an economic crisis, with unemployment increasing day by day.

He said the Afghans were living in extreme poverty because the US had frozen the money of Afghans.

He said the Afghan government and the international community should use all means to get the money from the United States.

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