GLOBALink | U.S. sanctions cast pall over post-quake reconstruction in Afghanistan-Xinhua

GLOBALink | U.S. sanctions cast pall over post-quake reconstruction in Afghanistan

Source: Xinhua| 2023-10-22 17:10:33|Editor:

Mohammad, a resident displaced by devastating earthquakes in Afghanistan's Herat province, is now living with six family members under the blankets in open ground.

He said he believed that the U.S. freezing of Afghanistan's assets has undermined the local post-quake rehabilitation and reconstruction.

Following the withdrawal of the U.S.-led forces from the war-torn country, Kabul's assets worth more than 9 billion U.S. dollars were frozen by the United States as part of its sanctions on the new rulers of impoverished Afghanistan.

To further mount pressure on the Taliban-run administration, U.S. President Joe Biden signed a decree in February last year allowing allocating 3.5 billion dollars from the frozen Afghan assets to the families of the 9/11 terror attack victims.

Afghanistan has been hit by the most destructive earthquakes in recent decades as tremors, some measuring a magnitude of 6.3, jolted the western Herat province since Oct. 7, leaving thousands of casualties.


Produced by Xinhua Global Service

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