Freezing Afghanistan’s Wealth: US Scrambles to Hit Hard with “Soft” Power
Robert Inkalesh, MintPress News, Aug 18 2021
Students paint messages in solidarity with the people of Afghanistan on a pavement in Mumbai,
Aug 17 2021. Photo: Rajanish Kakade/AP
WASHINGTON — In keeping with President Joe Biden’s pledge to withdraw from America’s 20-year war in one of the poorest countries on earth, the US government has yet to present any plan for future relations with Afghanistan, as it is reportedly scrambling to freeze Kabul’s wealth for fears of it falling into the hands of the Taliban. In the midst of the sudden collapse of Afghanistan’s government and the subsequent return to power of the Taliban this Sunday, the US troop presence at Afghanistan’s Kabul Airport has reportedly increased to 4.5k-strong, with a further increase planned to 6k in coming days. Having abandoned its embassy in the Afghan capital and vowing to maintain a presence only at the country’s airport, the US government has severely miscalculated the pace at which the country was destined to fall into Taliban control. The lack of a contingency plan, in the case that such an insurgency was to overwhelm the US-backed government of former President Ashraf Ghani, has led to an embarrassment of the US military and a stark decline in Biden’s approval rating at home. An unnamed US official told the WaPo:
Any Central Bank assets the Afghan government have in the US will not be made available to the Taliban.
According to that same report, the Biden administration has now frozen the assets of Afghanistan, the vast majority of which are not held inside of the nation’s own borders. Some 80% of Afghanistan’s annual budget is currently funded by the US and other foreign governments, which may well end now that the Taliban have seized control of the country. In alignment with sanctions in place against the Taliban and Executive Order 13224, any dealings with the Taliban are prohibited. Executive Order 13224 was signed by Bush 43 in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and was said to have been designed to restrict financing to US-designated terrorist organizations. This means that for one of the poorest countries on the planet, it may now be even more difficult to bring in international humanitarian aid at a time when the ongoing refugee crisis is expected to escalate. On May 6 2019, the UNHRC, commenting on the implementation of sanctions against Iran, Venezuela and Cuba, stated:
The use of economic sanctions for political purposes violates human rights and the norms of international behaviour. Such actions threaten creation of man-made humanitarian catastrophes of unprecedented proportions.
Over the past two decades, successive US administrations have fueled their nation-building project in Afghanistan, working to build an Afghan military 300k strong, armed with some of the latest in US military equipment. Between 2001 and 2019, the US government spent $133b on its nation-building efforts in Afghanistan. The Taliban now seems to be taking a more pragmatic approach to politics, showing themselves to be more calculated than they previously were, yet skepticism is still high as to whether the group will carry through with pledges to maintain peace and to respect the rights of women. Earlier this February, Taliban officials made a surprise visit to neighboring Turkmenistan, a country with the planet’s fourth-largest natural gas reserves, where they made the pledge to support the construction of a gas pipeline through their country and to provide stability. Further plans for railway infrastructure in Afghanistan were also discussed. As the US government is left scrambling, watching its $2.2 trillion war effort turn out to have meant nothing and seeking to pick up the pieces, it is now behaving very dangerously. Having utilized the USAF against the Taliban during the past months, now holding back the wealth of Afghanistan, the US is taking a much more aggressive approach than that of its rivals. China has stated that it is ready for “friendly relations” with the Taliban, while Russia and Pakistan have also voiced similar sentiments. The US may not have a physical presence inside of Afghanistan in the future, but the fear is that its economic sanctions may end up being more deadly than its armed forces.
US Leery as Talks Proceed Between Venezuela Govt and Opposition
Robert Inkalesh, MintPress News, Aug 19 2021
From left: Venezuelan opposition delegate Gerardo Blyde Perez, Norwegian diplomat Dan Nylander, Venezuelan President of the National Assembly
Jorge Rodriguez and Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, attend talks in Mexico City, Aug 13 2021. Photo: Marco Ugarte/AP
MEXICO CITY — The government of Venezuela is engaged in negotiations with the country’s Western-backed opposition. The preliminary talks, which took place in Mexico City, are the first of their kind since Venezuela’s diplomatic team withdrew from previous dialogues, which took place in Barbados and Norway in 2019 after US sanctions were tightened. In a bid to lift sanctions, the Bolivarian government of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro met with the Western-backed opposition of Juan Guaido last week, with further talks planned to be held at a currently undisclosed location between Sep 3-6. For the Venezuelan government, the primary goal is to negotiate a settlement under which economic sanctions would be lifted. As a first step towards that goal, a Memorandum of Understanding was agreed upon between the two sides, which will present a roadmap aimed at guiding the dialogue process. In addition to lifting sanctions, the Maduro government hopes to compel the US and its allies to drop their recognition of unelected opposition leader Juan Guaido as president of Venezuela and to recognize the result of the country’s presidential elections. Helping to facilitate these talks are the Netherlands and Russia. The latter is aiding Venezuela’s Bolivarian government and has helped President Maduro circumvent some US sanctions.
Russia’s involvement in particular has greatly aggravated Washington, which has long been wary of Russian involvement in South America. In 2020, Russian state-owned energy giant Rosneft Trading SA was sanctioned by the US for brokering the sale and transport of Venezuelan crude oil. Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez announced that a phone call had taken place, this Wednesday, between himself and Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in order to communicate the appreciation of Venezuela for Russia’s role in the negotiations in Mexico. Russia’s Lavrov was reported as having pledged to further strengthen ties between the two nations. Commenting on the talks, President Maduro said:
They provide an opportunity for the extremist opposition, which is backed by the US and some European countries, to understand that the time for sabotage, coup, and interventionism is up. They must return all assets, bank accounts, and dollars belonging to the Venezuelan people.
Former Special Representative for Venezuela in the State Dept (2019-20) and well-known neoconservative Elliott Abrams wrote a piece for The Hill voicing his dissatisfaction with President Joe Biden’s hands-off approach to Venezuela so far. He urged Biden to do more than keep US sanctions in place and to get more involved with the opposition and the coming round of talks in September. Abrams stated:
What we should not do is treat the Maduro regime as a legitimate government and permit it to send an ambassador to Washington.
There has been pushback in Washington from the other side of the argument, however, with Democrat Congressman Jesús “Chuy” García having gathered 18 signatures for a letter, forwarded to Biden’s Sec State, Antony Blinken, calling for the lifting of sanctions.
The US has sanctioned Venezuela since the Bolivarian revolution led by former President Hugo Chavez in 1999. But since imposition of further sanctions and an attempted regime-change operation in 2019, when the Trump administration recognized opposition figure Juan Guaido as the president of Venezuela, the Maduro government has only increased in popularity among the Venezuelan electorate. Yet, Venezuela is experiencing an unprecedented economic crisis, to overcome which the 90%+ of the population who live in poverty desperately need the lifting of sanctions. For the US media, it’s clear that the role of Russia in these negotiations is a point of focus and that no answer to the question of Venezuela’s future will be judged legitimate unless it includes the fall of Maduro’s government. CNN is still calling the attempt to install opposition figure Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s president a “revolution,” but doubts the capacity of Guaido to get the job done. Other establishment media have argued that concessions can be squeezed out of the suffering Venezuelan government, using US sanctions as a negotiating tool. Western mainstream media have been quick to attack Venezuela’s Bolivarian government for its insistence on pursuing a solution to the country’s economic crisis and are behaving more hawkish than the current US government.
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