A delegation from Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban arrived in Qatar on Wednesday to discuss with the United States a mechanism to release funds following a deadly earthquake in their country, with Washington keen to ensure they are used for humanitarian causes.
• Also read: Earthquake in Afghanistan: rescuers work in difficult conditions
Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi has arrived in Doha with Treasury and Central Bank officials to negotiate with US Special Envoy for Afghanistan Tom West, official said on Twitter, Taliban Foreign Ministry spokesman Hafiz Zia Ahmed.
In February, after the Taliban seized power in August 2021, Washington seized $7 billion in reserves deposited in the United States by the Afghan central bank.
Joe Biden wanted half of this sum to be reserved for compensating the families of the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States and the other half for humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, but to be paid in such a way that the money would not fall into the hands of the Taliban.
However, the country, already hit by a severe economic crisis, was hit by a magnitude 5.9 earthquake in the east of the country last week, killing more than 1,000 people and leaving thousands homeless.
“We are working hard to resolve difficult issues about the use of these funds to ensure they benefit the Afghan people and not the Taliban,” House Speaker Karine Jean-Pierre said last week.-White.
A board member of the Central Bank of Afghanistan confirmed to AFP on Wednesday that negotiations are underway but warned it could take time.
“The details of the mechanism for transferring reserves to the central bank are not yet finalized,” said Shah Mehrabi, also an economics professor at Montgomery College in Maryland (eastern United States).
“It will take time, these things don’t happen overnight.”
The US State Department did not immediately confirm that negotiations would begin.
For Mr. Mehrabi, $3.5 billion of reserves should be returned to the Afghan central bank. For his part, he proposes “a limited and controlled release of reserves, about 150 million a month, to pay for imports”.
Such a measure would help support the Afghan currency, stabilize prices and allow Afghans to buy basic commodities such as bread, oil, sugar and even fuel, the economist explains.
The use of the funds “can be independently monitored and audited by external auditing firms, with the option to terminate them if misused,” says Mehrabi.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 24 million Afghans, more than half the country’s population, are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.