Biden Administration Freezes USD 9.5 bn Of Afghan Reserves To Block Taliban Access To Funds

Mumbai: The Biden administration on Tuesday pooled nearly USD 9.5 billion in Afghan reserves to keep cash away from the Taliban after taking over Afghanistan.

Dawn, citing the Washington Post, reported that US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and personnel at the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control had decided to freeze the accounts.

“No central bank assets of the Afghan government in the United States will be made available to the Taliban,” an administration official told the newspaper in a statement.

According to the report, the US State Department was consulted before a White House-like action, adding that the Biden administration was also considering other actions to pressure the Taliban, the Dawn reported.

It reported that the Biden administration did not need a new authorization to freeze the stockpile because the Taliban were already under sanctions from an executive order approved after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Ajmal Ahmadi, the acting head of the country’s central bank Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB), tweeted earlier this week that he learned on Friday that shipments of dollars would stop because Washington would not allow the Taliban to access the funds.

“Any central bank assets the Afghan government have in the United States will not be made available to the Taliban,” an administration official told the newspaper in a statement.

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