Today is Afghanistan’s rainy day. As Biden said elsewhere in the executive order, DAB’s funds are badly needed for humanitarian relief. Using these funds to compensate 9/11 victims instead of aiding Afghans will unquestionably lead to preventable deaths.

The third criticism of Biden’s decision is that it is geopolitically shortsighted. The purpose of American foreign aid is to improve the world – saving and improving lives not only for morality’s sake, but with the belief that broader prosperity has positive outcomes for stability, democracy, and the international reputation of the United States. By contrast, the perception, deserved or otherwise, that the United States stole the Afghan people’s cash reserves during a famine will destroy whatever remaining goodwill Washington enjoys in the country, serve as a cautionary tale to America’s prospective allies, and probably cost U.S. taxpayers far more than $3.5 billion in the long run.

After twenty years, Washington failed in its mission to create a modern democracy in Afghanistan. If it wishes to preserve its influence in Central Asia, it should settle for the next best thing: doing its utmost to prevent a famine, even if doing so requires some level of contact with Kabul’s undesirable rulers. The Taliban-led government has already promised to not allow its territory to be used for international terrorism and made other basic concessions. As long as it follows through on those, then a stable Afghanistan under Taliban authority, however contentious the group’s policies, is better than a failed Afghan state where anarchy prevails and warlords, narco-traffickers, and terrorists are free to pursue their aims unchecked.

Ironically, the president noted all of this in his decision to give away the first half of DAB’s money. In that executive order, the president found “that the widespread humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan … and the potential for a deepening economic collapse … constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States … [and] the preservation of certain property of [DAB] held in the United States by United States financial institutions is of the utmost importance to addressing this national emergency and the welfare of the people of Afghanistan.”

The DAB funds cannot save Afghanistan alone. Afghans are grappling with much broader problems, including ensuring basic stability and security, repairing the economy, maintaining human rights, improving the status of women, and seeking international recognition and aid. None of these problems can be solved through a sudden infusion of cash, but all can be helped, and improvements on each will have lasting benefits for America’s global standing. Biden should rethink his decision.

Trevor Filseth is a current and foreign affairs writer for the National Interest.

Image: Reuters.