'Returning anything less than the full amount undermines the recovery of a devastated economy, where millions of people are starving,' says a new letter organized by ceprdc.
Several U.S. allies"have implemented similar policies," the letter notes,"blocking access to an additional $2 billion" and helping to plunge Afghanistan's economy into"a dire state."The World Bank predicts that by the end of the year, real GDP per capita will have declined by 30% since the end of 2020. At the same time, prices of basic necessities have skyrocketed.
Many factors have contributed to this crisis, including drought; the global impacts of the war in Ukraine, particularly on food and fuel prices; and the Taliban's governance. Furthermore, international aid accounted for 40% of Afghanistan's GDP and 75% of public spending in 2019; its rapid evaporation following the Taliban takeover thus removed one of the central pillars of the Afghan economy and the source of many people's salaries.
However, the"de facto seizure" of roughly $9 billion in foreign reserves, which were"built up at great opportunity cost over the course of decades," has"contributed mightily to Afghanistan's economic collapse," the letter emphasizes.
"This is not an attack on the Taliban so much as it is an attack on the people of Afghanistan, some 20 million of whom are facing hunger, malnutrition, and starvation," said Weisbrot."The confiscation of reserves and other economic sanctions by the U.S. and its allies constitute collective punishment; they are contributing enormously to this death and destruction."
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