People help with search and rescue operations at a collapsed building after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake shook Afghanistan in the Spera district of Khost Province, on June 22, 2022. The death toll has hit 1,000, disaster management officials said, with more than 600 injured and the toll expected to grow as information trickles in from remote mountain villages. Photo: VCG

Afghanistan suffered its deadliest earthquake in 20 years on Wednesday. More than 1,100 people were killed and over 1,600 injured as of press time. For Afghanistan, which is already facing a dire humanitarian crisis, this unexpected, sudden natural disaster is making everything worse. 

China immediately expressed its readiness to provide emergency humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan in light of its needs. Pakistan, India, Turkey and other neighboring countries, as well as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, have expressed their condolences. The tragic suffering of the Afghan people has aroused widespread and sincere sympathy in the international community.

What is odd is that, after the earthquake, the US embassy in Kabul currently operating in Doha, US National Security Advisor to US President Jacob Sullivan, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued statements one after another, saying that they were "deeply saddened" and they "stand with them [Afghan people] during and after this terrible tragedy."

These gushing words are extraordinarily hypocritical, ironic and even cruel when they were uttered by this bunch of Americans, as it is widely known that most of the sufferings the Afghan people have to endure today are caused by the US. What makes people even more outraged is that Washington still freezes a huge sum of $7 billion in assets in the US belonging to Afghanistan's central bank.

In February, US President Joe Biden signed an executive order to arbitrarily distribute $7 billion in frozen assets from Afghanistan's central bank. Half of the fund would be used to compensate victims of the 9/11 attacks. This move in fact means the US has made the money its own. The world's most powerful country blatantly robbing of the assets of the poorest country in the world has met strong condemnation from the international community. 

At that time, the Global Times launched a global online petition demanding the US return the assets to Afghans without conditions. The petition received over 400,000 signatures in the end. But the US has been turning a deaf ear. Now, as a natural disaster suddenly fell on Afghanistan, the Afghan assets in the US have become even more "life-saving." 

However, the US, without the move or even a slightest bit of willingness to pay the money back, is talking out loud about "standing with the people of Afghanistan." This is like shedding crocodile tears on Afghanistan's wound. The US is using sulfuric acid as Band-Aid for Afghanistan. 

Afghanistan was smashed by the US. During the 20 years since the US invaded the country, more than 30,000 Afghan civilians had been killed and 11 million Afghans were made refugees.

After realizing that its geopolitical goals can hardly be reached, the US hastily and irresponsibly withdrew its troops from Afghanistan, leaving a big mess behind to the Afghan people. Not only that, the US also imposed unilateral sanctions against Afghanistan, shut the door upon a large number of Afghan refugees, and even robbed Afghanistan of its money. 

Before the earthquake, the UN asked donations of $4.4 billion in humanitarian aid for Afghanistan to alleviate its humanitarian crisis, but was still short of about 70 percent of the intended sum. Because of the earthquake, the funding gap becomes even bigger at the moment. For the tens of millions of Afghan people suffering in great misery, this means they will have to continue to suffer from hunger, poverty, the collapse of life and even the loss of life. 

Rich countries - represented by the US - which often talk about "human rights" are extremely stingy and hypocritical in the face of the humanitarian disaster they had created in Afghanistan. They uttered a few beautiful words and shed a few drops of crocodile tears, but they are apathetic and indifferent and have no sincerity at all. 

What the US owes Afghanistan is not just the more than $7 billion. Facing both natural and man-made disasters in Afghanistan, if the US really wants to "stand with the Afghan people," it should start with paying the $7 billion back immediately.