Following the intricacies of US Afghanistan policy is a challenge. After a chaotic exit from the country in late August 2021 and leaving behind the Taliban, who ousted them from power twenty years earlier, they had promised a tough line against the mullahs’ regime. For example, on February 11, they froze $7 billion (same amount in euros) of Afghan Central Bank assets that were on their soil. Their armed drones killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri in the heart of Kabul on July 31. Finally, Washington believed that any assistance other than emergency humanitarian aid would be the beginning of political recognition in favor of an Islamist government banished from the nations.
On Wednesday, September 14th, the US government, through the voice of the State Department and Treasury Department, decided to tone down its policy towards the country’s new masters. She announced the creation of the Fund of Afghanistan, based in Geneva, Switzerland, which would receive half of the Afghan central bank’s assets blocked in the United States, ie $3.5 billion.
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This structure will assume the functions of a central bank until Its board will consist of two Washington-appointed Afghan economists, Anwar Ahady, former Minister of Trade and Industry and former Governor of the Afghan Central Bank, and Shah Mehrabi, Professor of Economics at Montgomery College (Maryland). Board Member of the Central Bank. They are accompanied by a representative of the American government and a Swiss counterpart.
The Afghan Fund will maintain an account with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and fund Afghan banks’ access to the Swift international payment system. The Taliban government has no access to this fund. The BRI said on Wednesday that its role was “limited”.[ait] providing banking services and carrying out the instructions of the Board of Directors of the Fund without involvement in governance or decision-making [de celui-ci] “.
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The BRI’s caution reflects a very political decision. For Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, [avec ce fonds,] The United States and our partners are taking an important and concrete step forward to ensure that additional resources can be mobilized to alleviate the suffering of the Afghan people and improve economic stability while continuing to hold the Taliban accountable.”
France sticks to a hard line
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