Taliban seek talks over Biden’s move to split Afghan funds

Bloomberg

The Taliban have sought talks with the US to reverse its decision to use the Afghan central bank’s reserves to compensate victims of the September 11 attacks and support aid efforts in the country, a spokesman for the group said.
The group will use “every diplomatic approach” to push President Joe Biden to reverse his decision and release the Afghan funds, said Zabihullah Mujahed. The comments are in contrast with group’s earlier strongly-worded statement, which condemned the American move and warned it would “reconsider” its policy towards the US.
Biden issued an executive order to transfer $7 billion in central bank assets frozen in the US into a consolidated account held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, with the US seeking to use $3.5 billion for assistance to the Afghan people.
The other $3.5 billion would remain in the US, pending ongoing litigation brought by the victims of the September 11
attacks.
The funds were frozen after the Taliban took over the country in August last year.
The decision has drawn harsh criticism from many Afghan leaders, including former President Hamid Karzai, who called it an “atrocity” against the people of the country. The United Nations, which has recently made a funding plea for a record $5 billion in aid, estimates more than half of the country’s nearly 40 million people face acute hunger, with a million children at risk
of dying amid a harsh winter. Thousands of residents in Kabul and Kandahar also
took to the streets to protest the decision.