US TREASURY SAYS NO WAY FOR TALIBAN TO GAIN ACCESS TO CENTRAL BANK FUNDS

Tue 19 October 2021:

According to Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo, the United States does not plan to allow the Taliban access to Afghanistan’s financial reserves stored in American banks.

“I see no situation in which we would allow the Taliban to have access to the reserves that belong to the Afghan people. We believe that it’s essential that we maintain our sanctions against the Taliban, but at the same time find ways for legitimate humanitarian assistance to get to the Afghan people,” Adeyemo said during a Senate hearing.

The US froze $9bn US in Afghan foreign reserves held in New York and the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund and European Union have suspended financing for projects in Afghanistan.

Without access to these funds, the interim government in Kabul cannot even pay the import taxes needed to bring containers of food from Pakistan, the country’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry officials said.

The World Health Organization, Afghanistan’s representatives from Doctors Without Borders, and the International Federation of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent said the country’s health system is on the brink of collapse and has urged for funding to resume for the country’s health programme.

Photo: Children reportedly suffering from malnutrition receives treatment at the Mirwais hospital in Kandahar.

_____________________________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent