Afghans protest in Kabul against US decision on frozen funds

Dozens of Afghans held a protest in Kabul over the United States’ recent decision to transfer part of Afghanistan’s frozen funds to a bank in Switzerland. The protesters said, the money should be transferred to Afghanistan’s Central bank.

“The money needs to be freed now. The Afghan people are struggling financially. If this money does not help us in this condition, what is it for?” said a protester. The protesters claimed that the American and British soldiers had violated human rights in Afghanistan and urged the International Criminal Court to prosecute them.

This comes as the US established a fund worth 3.5 billion dollars to assist the people of Afghanistan, known as the “Afghan Fund,” through the Departments of the Treasury and Department of State, in cooperation with international partners including the government of Switzerland and Afghan economic experts. The US and the international community have frozen more than seven billion dollars in assets of the Central bank belonging to Afghanistan since the re-establishment of the Islamic Emirate.