Return Kabul’s frozen assets

Several dozen prominent US and international economists urged the United States Wednesday to hand over to Afghanistan $7 billion in central bank reserves frozen when the Taliban seized control of the country nearly one year ago.

"We are deeply concerned by the compounding economic and humanitarian catastrophes unfolding in Afghanistan, and, in particular, by the role of US policy in driving them," 71 economists and development experts said in a letter to US President Joe Biden and US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

"Seventy percent of Afghan households are unable to meet their basic needs," they wrote. "Some 22.8 million people face acute food insecurity, and three million children are at risk of malnutrition."

This is worsened by the refusal of the United States to return to the Afghan central bank the $7 billion in foreign exchange reserves, as well as $2 billion blocked by Britain, Germany, and the UAE, they said.