Six months after the Taliban seized management of Afghanistan, residents are accusing U.S. President Joe Biden of stealing assist from these in want.

Final week, Biden signed an government order that will break up in half $7 billion of Afghan property frozen within the U.S. after the Taliban takeover. Afghanistan will obtain $3.5 billion, whereas the opposite half will go to American victims of the September 11, 2001, assaults. The transfer has been extensively criticized, with many calling Biden a "thief."

"[The attacks on] 9/11 had nothing to do with Afghans," stated one signal at a protest attended by greater than 3,000 individuals. "Disgrace Disgrace Mr. Biden, you kill us, you bomb us and now you steal our cash."

The legality of such a transfer has additionally been questioned by Afghans, together with monetary adviser Torek Farhadi.

"These reserves belong to the individuals of Afghanistan, not the Taliban," Farhadi instructed the Related Press. "Biden's resolution is one-sided and doesn't match with worldwide regulation. No different nation on Earth makes such confiscation selections about one other nation's reserves."

It is a perception that many Afghans who've been protesting the reserve break up have agreed with. One of many core messages of the current protests was that Afghanistan, as a rustic, was not chargeable for the September 11 assaults. Thus, they need to not must pay the victims of the assault or their households.

Biden World Thief
A torn banner lies on the bottom after a protest condemning President Joe Biden's resolution on frozen Afghan property, in Kabul, Afghanistan, on February 15, 2022. Biden signed an government order on February 11 to create a pathway to separate $7 billion dollars of Afghan property frozen within the U.S. to fund humanitarian reduction in Afghanistan and to create a belief fund to compensate September 11 victims.AP Photograph/Hussein Malla

"What about our Afghan individuals who gave many sacrifices and 1000's of losses of lives?" organizer Abdul Rahman stated. "This cash belongs to the individuals of Afghanistan, to not the USA. That is the appropriate of Afghans."

The order has additionally been questioned by People, significantly overseas coverage analysts. The Wilson Heart's ​​Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the middle's Asia Program, had harsh phrases for the brand new order in a current tweet.

"It is nice that $3.5B in new humanitarian assist for Afghanistan has been freed up," he wrote. However to take one other $3.5B that belongs to the Afghan individuals, and divert it elsewhere—that's misguided and fairly frankly heartless."

In whole, Afghanistan has about $9 billion in abroad property, with $7 billion within the U.S. The opposite $2 billion principally is within the United Arab Emirates, Germany and Switzerland. None of these international locations have introduced plans to separate property.

Replace 2/15/22, 9:38 a.m. ET: This story has been up to date with feedback from organizers and analysts, in addition to extra background info.