After 20 years of torturing Afgahnistan with bombs, drones and occupying forces, the United States is now contributing “human-made” famine in Afghanistan. [1]
Some progressive members of Congress are speaking out on the issue. That’s critical because most people in the U.S. — and even some members of Congress — know very little about this issue.
Tell Congress: Stop Starving Afghanistan!
The United States, seeking to punish the Taliban for their takeover in Afghanistan, is using its power to freeze critical aid and funds including the funds in the Afghanistan Central Bank. Humanitarian relief providers and human rights groups are calling on the U.S. to end this practice as the economy in Afghanistan crumbles and many Afghans go hungry.
This is partially a continuation of the chronic U.S. overuse of sanctions. As you know, too often the U.S. seeks to target an authoritarian government and ends up punishing civilians. But in this case the U.S. is not only sanctioning Afghanistan, it is also freezing $9.5 billion dollars of Afghan government funds held in U.S. banks at a time that the Afghan people need resources and the Afghan economy is failing.
Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, has issued a Congressional letter calling on the Biden administration to end the U.S. policies doing the most harm in Afghanistan. Ask your Representative to join her letter!
Contact your Representative: Unfreeze Afghanistan’s Accounts!
By blocking transfers from the roughly $9.5 billion in Afghanistan Central Bank accounts in the U.S. the Biden administration is starving the Afghan economy of oxygen. The Taliban are brutal and oppressive, and the administration may need to map out a strategy to deal with that. But destroying the entire nation’s economy is not the way to address that. Many Afghans and aid organizations on the ground are asking the U.S. to take a more compassionate path. Cratering the Afghan economy, which is what many economists worry is happening, doesn’t just target the Taliban. It destabilizes the entire country and harms the health and wellbeing of millions.
Winter is always harsh in Afghanistan. But the pictures of suffering and deprivation coming out of Afghanistan right now — in early December — are heartbreaking. Tell your House Representative that U.S. foreign policy should not include starving a whole nation because we have issues with the government that took over when we left Afghanistan.
[1] Afghanistan Facing Famine, UN, World Bank, US Should Adjust Sanctions, Economic Policies, Human Rights Watch, November 11, 2021