To try to free up frozen Afghan assets for aid, Biden signs executive order

To try to free up frozen Afghan assets for aid, Biden signs executive order

Transcript¹

President Biden has signed an executive order detailing how the U.S will deal with about $7 billion in assets that Afghanistan's central bank stored in New York before the Taliban takeover.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

When Afghanistan's government collapsed² earlier this year, its central bank had about $7 billion in assets stored in the United States. That money has been sitting there frozen, even as the country now faces a humanitarian³ crisis. Today, President Biden took the first step in trying to sort out what to do with these assets. And right now, only half of that money is set to go to help the Afghan people. NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordo?ez joins us now. Hi, Franco.

FRANCO ORDO?EZ, BYLINE⁴: Hey, Rachel.

MARTIN: So just tell us the short story of this money. I mean, it's in the U.S. Why has it been frozen for this long?

ORDO?EZ: Well, this is some of the international aid that has come from U.S. and international donors⁵ over the past 20 years during the war. It was money that belonged to the former central bank. And since the Taliban took over the country, it's been frozen. The Taliban is designated as an international terrorist organization, so governments and banks cannot do transactions with them, and they don't. Meanwhile, the economy of the country has collapsed. And people are really struggling to get food and medical supplies.

MARTIN: But as I understand it, now the Biden administration is saying that half of this money could potentially go to victims of the 9/11 attacks. Is that right? Explain that.

ORDO?EZ: Yeah. Yeah, that's right. So these groups of families are in the middle of legal action about 9/11. One group has even obtained writs⁷ of attachment⁸ against the money. So the administration says it needs to respect the legal process for the victims, for the families of victims of 9/11 and make sure that the claims being made by the groups of families of 9/11 get their process seen through.

MARTIN: I don't know what a writ⁶ of attachment is. Presumably, it's something that says my family member died in the 9/11 attacks that were precipitated⁹ by action that happened in Afghanistan. And therefore, the Afghan government owes me money.

ORDO?EZ: Yes, something like that. That would be very close to - that's how I understand it, as well.

MARTIN: So this new executive order from the Biden administration - explain exactly what's going to happen now.

ORDO?EZ: Well, the plan is to basically split the money in two. Half the money, about 3 1/2 billion, will be moved into a trust fund, which will be used for humanitarian aid and assistance for the Afghan people. And U.S. officials say there will be put a lot of protections to ensure that the Taliban can't get their hands on it. It'll be controlled, actually, by an independent third party and distributed via international aid groups. The other half will remain frozen, you know, recognizing that these court cases, as we've been talking about, related to 9/11 are still playing out.

MARTIN: I mean, as noble as the notion is of helping¹⁰ these 9/11 families, I don't get how the U.S. government has a claim on this money.

ORDO?EZ: Yeah, this is a controversial move because the money was put there for safekeeping for the Afghan people but also potentially could lead other governments to think twice before parking their own money in the United States, you know, if they think that sometime down the road, the U.S. might seize it. But the leadership of the former central bank essentially¹¹ dissolved. And the U.S. can't deal directly with the Taliban, either. But the president does have emergency powers that the administration says that it can use to take this step.

MARTIN: And it is a step, right? Potentially, this isn't just going to happen quickly.

ORDO?EZ: Yeah, it's going to be months down the road. There's a lot of dealing¹². There's a lot of people interacting with. And, you know, the Federal Reserve also has to review this, so same with the Treasury¹³.

MARTIN: NPR's Franco Ordo?ez, thank you.

ORDO?EZ: Thank you.

MARTIN: We also want to share that we are following the news out of Afghanistan that two journalists and their Afghan colleagues have been detained in Kabul. That's language coming from the U.N. The U.N. confirmed this in a tweet. They said that they had been on assignment for the U.N. Refugee Agency.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

3 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 writ   

n.命令状，书面命令

参考例句：

• This is a copy of a writ I received this morning.这是今早我收到的书面命令副本。
• You shouldn't treat the newspapers as if they were Holy Writ. 你不应该把报上说的话奉若神明。

7 writs   

n.书面命令，令状( writ的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies. 管理局须发出令状的选举，以填补这些空缺。 来自互联网
• Writs of arrest were issued for a thousand students throughout the country. 全国各地有一千名学生被拘捕。 来自互联网

8 attachment   

n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附

参考例句：

• She has a great attachment to her sister.她十分依恋她的姐姐。
• She's on attachment to the Ministry of Defense.她现在隶属于国防部。

9 precipitated   

v.（突如其来地）使发生( precipitate的过去式和过去分词 )；促成；猛然摔下；使沉淀

参考例句：

• His resignation precipitated a leadership crisis. 他的辞职立即引发了领导层的危机。
• He lost his footing and was precipitated to the ground. 他失足摔倒在地上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

11 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

12 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

13 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。