Biden administration freezes billions of dollars in Afghan reserves, depriving Taliban of cash

Source: WaPo

The Biden administration on Sunday froze Afghan government reserves held in U.S. bank accounts, blocking the Taliban from accessing billions of dollars held in U.S. institutions, according to two people familiar with the matter. 

The decision was made by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and officials in Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, the people said. The State Department was also involved in discussions this weekend, with officials in the White House monitoring the developments. An administration official said in a statement, “Any Central Bank assets the Afghan government have in the United States will not be made available to the Taliban.” The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss government policy not yet made public. 

Cutting off access to U.S.-based reserves represents among the first in what is expected to prove several crucial decisions facing the Biden administration about the economic fate of that nation following the Taliban takeover. Afghanistan is already one of the poorest countries in the world and is highly dependent on American aid that is now in jeopardy. The Biden administration is also likely to face hard choices over how to manage existing sanctions on the Taliban, which may make it difficult to deliver international humanitarian assistance to a population facing ruin, experts say. 

The Afghan central bank held $9.4 billion in reserve assets as of April, according to the International Monetary Fund. That amounts to roughly one third of the country’s annual economic output. The vast majority of those reserves are not currently held in Afghanistan, one of the people familiar with the matter said. Among those, billions of dollars are kept in the U.S., although the precise amount is unclear. 

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021/08/17/treasury-taliban-money-afghanistan/  

Remember the argument when Obama gave Iran its money back.   It's their money we have no right to hold it.   

Likely given back once we get American's out.

I'm sure a good portion was US monies in the first place which we appropriated to them in aid.

Lol. They would have been able to pay off Trump.  

Afghan’s big crop is poppie seeds right. ? Maybe Hunter will make a deal too. Give 10% back go the big guy.

Double post

Edited August 17, 20213 yr by CFM

7 hours ago, Highmark said:

Remember the argument when Obama gave Iran its money back.   It's their money we have no right to hold it.   

My thoughts exactly as I was reading . How long till some liberal leader Flys a cargo jet full of cash in to Afghanistan.  But a better question is how do they even have any money ? What are they exporting ? Who are they taxing? Really ? 

3 hours ago, revkevsdi said:

Lol. They would have been able to pay off Trump.  

oh great.  Look who's back, riding in on Talibans coat tails....    

America does a few things well. Start wars. Interfere with other country’s governments, and steal their money. 

Did leave them several hundreds of millions of dollars worth of military weapons and infrastructure to use against their neighbors and us in exchange.....

Despite Afghanistan withdrawal, Biden seeks to spend $3.6B more on reconstruction there next year

https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/afghanistan-withdrawal-biden-more-spending-reconstruction

9 hours ago, ActionfigureJoe said:

Democrats do a few things well. Start wars. Interfere with other country’s governments, and give other countries our tax money. 

BINGO

3 hours ago, Rigid1 said:

Despite Afghanistan withdrawal, Biden seeks to spend $3.6B more on reconstruction there next year

https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/afghanistan-withdrawal-biden-more-spending-reconstruction

That’ll be canceled 

26 minutes ago, ActionfigureJoe said:

That’ll be canceled 

I hope so, but right now it seems to still be happening..