Tell the Biden administration: UnFreeze Afghanistan's Assets
Add your name to the petition calling on the Biden Administration, the World Bank, and key members of Congress to unfreeze Afghan funds.
Dear President Biden, the World Bank, and key members of Congress (see below for the specific members of Congress),
According to women in Afghanistan, the Taliban is allowing girls to attend primary school (grades 1-6). They have still not opened grades 7-12 to girls but have pledged to do so and we must hold them to that. However, there is a major hurdle: the non-payment of salaries to teachers. There are currently more than 120,000 female teachers in public schools across the country, and about half of them are the sole source of income for their families. It is very difficult, even impossible, to ask these teachers to continue teaching without pay.
Please release the Afghan funds.
The same crisis is facing Afghan women healthcare workers. There are over 13,000 female healthcare workers in Afghanistan, including doctors, midwives, nurses, vaccinators, and other female staff. Most of them were being paid through the World Bank via the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF), but since June, the funding has stopped. Meanwhile, the health system is on the brink of collapse. There has been a surge in cases of measles and diarrhea; a resurgence of polio is a major risk; almost half the children are malnourished; nearly 1 in 4 COVID hospitals have shuttered and 2 million doses of COVID19 vaccines remain unused for lack of personnel to administer them.
Please unfreeze Afghan funds.
Sincerely,
Initial signers:
| Adela Azizi | Women's scholar, Herat, Afghanistan |
| Alice Slater | World Beyond War, board member |
| Alice Walker | Author |
| Andrea Miller | Executive Director, Center for Common Ground |
| Anisa | Head master, Karim high school, Pangsher, Afghanistan |
| Ann Wright | Retired US Army colonel and State Department official |
| Beth Miller | Senior Government Affairs Manager, Jewish Voice for Peace Action |
| Charles F. Pritz, Esq | President, Human Rights Advocates International (HRAI) |
| Cheryl Benard | President, Metis Analytics; former Senior Analyst, Rand Corp. |
| Estee Chandler | Host, Middle East in Focus |
| Halima Nasiri | Supreme court judge, Kabul |
| Hanieh Jodat Barnes | President, Muslim Delegates and Allies |
| Jamila Afghani | President, Women’s Intl League for Peace and Freedom, Afghan branch |
| Jamila Safi | President, Female Teachers Association, Afghanistan |
| Jodie Evans | CODEPINK Co-Founder |
| July Kawamoto | Author, psychotherapist |
| Khatma Kakar | Youth women activist, Nangrhar |
| Latifa Hashmi | Principal, Kabul Girls High School |
| Lona Kargar | Women rights activist, Kandahar |
| Marjorie Cohn | Thomas Jefferson School of Law |
| Martha Leslie Allen | Director, Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press |
| Martha L Schmidt, J.D. | Co-chair, Human Rights Framework Project, National Lawyers Guild |
| Medea Benjamin | Author and CODEPINK Co-Founder |
| Nasreen Barakzai | Principal, Zarghona girls high school, Kandahar |
| Peggy Gish | Christian Peacemakers |
| Phyllis Bennis | Author/analyst, Institute for Policy Studies |
| Qamar Niazi | Head of WAO organization |
| Rev. Dr. Chloe Beyer | Board member, Afghans4Tomorrow |
| Roya Hamid | Teacher, Rabia high school in Kabul |
| Ruth W. Messinger | Social Justice Consultant |
| Shekiba Amer | Teacher, Malali high school in Kabul |
| Sister Carol Boshert | Gospel Justice Group |
| Sister Carol Gilbert | Dominican Sisters |
| Sunita Viswanath | Hindus for Human Rights |
| Susan Scott | Human right attorney |
| Susan Smith | Muslim Peace Fellowship |
| Toorpakai Momand | former Director General of Female Education, Afghanistan |
| Wahid Omar | Board member, Afghans4Tomorrow |
| Zakia Mahmoodi | Shia Women Ulema, Afghanistan |
| Zarghoona Baloch | Deputy of Baloch Association, Kandahar |