The Biden Administration and Afghanistan’s Frozen Assets
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 15 February 2022
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Biden administration on Friday notified a court of a novel proposal to dispose of $7 billion in frozen Afghanistan assets, producing some pretty confusing media and a lot of anger. To try to unpack it, Benjamin Wittes sat down with Alex Zerden, the founder and principal of Capitol Peak Strategies and the former lead of the Treasury Department's office at the U.S.-Kabul embassy, and Lawfare senior editor Scott R. Anderson. They talked about what the Biden administration did and its executive order on Friday, how the media subtly got it wrong, what the implications are for pending litigation and for providing relief to the Afghan people, and whether the administration has successfully threaded a needle.
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Transcript
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| 0:14.0 | That's patreon.com slash law fair. |
| 0:18.0 | Also, check out LawFair's other podcast offerings, |
| 0:22.0 | rational security, chatter, law fair no bull, and the aftermath. |
| 0:29.0 | There needs to be a very robust framework for oversight, for enforcement, |
| 0:37.0 | and for monitoring of where these funds, if they are, in fact, released, |
| 0:41.0 | through this trust fund proposal by the Biden administration. |
| 0:45.0 | How that money is used and dispersed. |
| 0:47.0 | But I think that there's just more of a wishful thinking among many within Afghanistan |
| 0:54.0 | and outside that there was a policy alternative or legal possibility |
| 0:59.0 | that the Biden administration through Fiat could just cut a $7 billion check to the Taliban. |
| 1:06.0 | I'm Benjamin Wittes and this is the LawFair podcast, |
| 1:10.0 | February 15th, 2022. |
| 1:14.0 | The Biden administration on Friday notified a court of a novel proposal |
| 1:20.0 | to dispose of $7 billion in frozen Afghanistan assets. |
| 1:26.0 | It produced some pretty confusing media and a lot of anger, |
| 1:31.0 | and we thought we would try to unpack it. |
| 1:34.0 | So joining me in the virtual jungle studio today is Alex Zerden, |
| 1:39.0 | the founder and principal of capital peak strategies, |
| 1:43.0 | and the former lead of the Treasury Department's office at the U.S. Kabul Embassy. |
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