Afghan people line up outside AZIZI Bank to take out cash as the Bank suffers amid money crises in Kabul, Afghanistan, on August 15, 2021.
The Guardian: Taliban face financial crisis without access to foreign reserves
Analysis: As the US freezes Afghan reserves and Germany halts aid, the new rulers may find they are far short of what is required to govern.
Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers are likely to face a rapidly developing financial crisis, with foreign currency reserves largely unreachable and western aid donors – who fund the country’s institutions by about 75% – already cutting off or threatening to cut payments.
While the hardline Islamist group has moved in recent years to become more independent of outside financial supporters including Iran, Pakistan and wealthy donors in the Gulf, its financial flows – amounting to $1.6bn (£1.2bn) last year – are far short of what it will require to govern.
On Wednesday, Afghanistan’s central bank governor disclosed that the country has $9bn in reserves abroad but not in physical cash inside the country after the Biden administration ordered the freezing of Afghan government reserves held in US bank accounts on Sunday.
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Update: "Panic" As Afghani Crashes After Central Bank Chief Flees, Says No More Dollars Left (Zero Hedge)
WNU Editor: Money is not the priority for the Taliban right now. Their focus is on consolidating their power. As for the average Afghan citizen. They are going to be facing hardship even worse than what they are experiencing now.
