22.8 million Afghans – more than half the population – are facing acute food insecurity. Lift Biden administration’s hold on billions of central bank reserves.

When President Joe Biden decided to withdraw the U.S. military from Afghanistan last year, much of America’s news media came down on him like a ton of bricks. Republicans piled on, calling the withdrawal an “unmitigated disaster.”

But getting out was the right move.

In fact, the real mistake was the opposite: The Biden administration did not end the war, but continued it by other means, which are turning out to be more violent and destabilizing. The economic sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies are causing widespread, severe hunger in this desperately poor country.

$7 billion in central bank reserves

Unless those sanctions are soon reversed, it is estimated that more people will die from the economic impact of sanctions over the next year than the number who died in 20 years of war.