Afghans firmly denounce the United States for unfreezing Afghanistan’s central bank assets to compensate victims of the 9/11 terrorist attack, claiming that the blocked assets belong to the Afghan people.

US President Joe Biden on Friday signed an executive order on the blocked property of Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB), the central bank, held in the US, stating half the foreign reserves will be used to compensate the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attack.

According to the White House’s statement, Biden requested that about $7 billion of the frozen assets will be divided equally, with half funding 9/11 victims.

The other half will be transferred to a consolidated account held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, for the benefit of the Afghan people and keeping them out of the hands of the Taliban.

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (Taliban) immediately condemned the executive order.

Mohammad Naeem, spokesman for the Taliban’s political office in Doha, condemned the US for stealing the property of the Afghan people. Naeem posted on social media that the theft of the frozen assets of the Afghan people shows that the United States has degraded to the lowest level in human nature and morality.

Residents in Kabul voiced their firm objection against such rude behaviors of the United States, Reuters reported.

As an Afghan, let me tell you how this is wrong - the Americans unfroze the assets to compensate the victims in 9/11, and they are doing it wrong. They should return the money to the Afghan people, because the two things (Afghan people and 9/11) have nothing to do with each other, said Meraj, a shopkeeper.

First, I don’t think the US has the right to use Afghanistan’s money to compensate 9/11 victims. The US had no reason when it attacked us, but a lot of people died in the past 20 years. So it’s the US that should compensate us, and they should not spend our money, said Faiz Mohammad, a resident in Kabul.