US, IMF freezes Afghans funding access, squeezing Taliban

Washington, August 19: After getting criticized for the Afghanistan turmoil, Joe Biden administration has now frozen the Afghan govt reserves deposited in U.S bank accounts.

 

Apart from the US, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also blocked Afghanistan's access to the emergency reserve worth USD 460 million. The IMF took action after Washington's pressure. Both took this action to keep cash away from the Taliban after it captured Afghanistan. 

 

 

"There is currently a lack of clarity within the international community regarding recognition of a government in Afghanistan, as a consequence of which the country cannot access SDRs or other IMF resources," an IMF spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

 

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Washington took the decision after US treasury secretary Janet L Yellen held discussions with the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets, the report said. According to the former acting governor of the Afghan central bank, about $7 billion of the central bank’s $9 billion in foreign reserves are held by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

 

 

Besides, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has already suspended “financial and other kinds of support to the Afghan government. “No money is transferred; no support is provided,” said NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg in a press conference recently.

 

Secretary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), General Jens Stoltenberg, has called for a virtual meeting of the foreign ministers of all member states to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.

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