KABUL, AUG 18  (DNA) – The United States has frozen Afghan central bank reserves in U.S. accounts, depriving the Taliban of billions of dollars.

“Any central bank assets the Afghan government have in the United States will not be made available to the Taliban,” a U.S. administration official said.

The administration of President Joe Biden made the decision over the weekend as the Taliban seized the capital, Kabul, on August 15 following a blistering offensive that swept up cities and toppled the Western-backed government.

According to the International Monetary Fund, the Da Afghanistan Bank’s gross reserves totaled $9.4 billion at the end of April. Most of the reserves are believed to be held at the New York Federal Reserve Bank and other U.S. financial institutions

The assets include dollars, gold, and U.S. treasuries. The vast majority of those reserves are not currently held in Afghanistan, one of the people familiar with the matter said.

Quoting two people familiar with the matter, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday that the Biden administration froze Afghan government reserves held in US bank accounts, blocking the Taliban from accessing billions of dollars held in US institutions.

The Afghanistan Central Bank held $9.4 billion in reserve assets as of April, according to the International Monetary Fund, which 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 as quoted by the Post. Among those, billions of dollars are kept in the United States, although the precise amount is unclear.

The decision was made by Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen and officials in the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, the people said.

The State Department was also involved in discussions over the 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.

Ajmal Ahmady, acting head of Da Afghanistan Bank, early Monday tweeted that he learned on Friday that shipments of dollars would stop as the US tried to block any Taliban effort to gain access to the funds. DAB has $9.5 billion in assets, a sizeable portion of which is in accounts with the New York Federal Reserve and US-based financial institutions.

US sanctions on the Taliban mean that they cannot access any funds. The vast majority of DAB’s assets are not currently held in Afghanistan, according to two people familiar with the matter.    According to the Post, the US Treasury Department declined to comment.

Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world and is highly dependent on foreign aid, which has covered about three-quarters of the government budget, according to the World Bank. = DNA

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ISLAMABAD, AUG 18 /DNA/ – Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi received a telephone call from Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi .

The two Foreign Ministers exchanged views on the evolving situation in Afghanistan.

The Foreign Minister underlined that a peaceful and stable Afghanistan was of critical importance for Pakistan and the region. In this perspective, Pakistan had assiduously supported the Afghan peace process.

Pakistan and China, as part of Troika Plus, had made valuable contribution to these efforts.

The Foreign Minister added that in the given situation, it was extremely important to ensure safety and security as well as protection of rights of the Afghan people.

The Foreign Minister stressed that an inclusive political settlement was essential, for which all Afghans should work together.

Foreign Minister of Pakistan said that it was equally important for the international community to remain engaged in support of the Afghan people.

Foreign Minister Qureshi emphasized that the international community must also have sustained economic engagement with Afghanistan.

The Foreign Minister apprised Foreign Minister Wang Yi of Pakistan’s efforts to facilitate the evacuation of personnel and staff of diplomatic missions, international organizations, media and others from Afghanistan.

The Foreign Minister said that Pakistan and China were ‘iron brothers’ and strategic partners. The two countries had the tradition of maintaining close coordination and communication on issues of common interest and significance, he added.

Foreign Minister Qureshi and State Councilor Wang Yi agreed to remain in close contact to promote the shared objectives.

The world should give the Taliban the space to form a new government in Afghanistan and may discover that the insurgents cast as militants by the West for decades have become more reasonable, the head of the British army said on Wednesday.

The leaders of the Taliban will show themselves to the world, an official of the Islamist movement said on Wednesday, unlike during the last 20 years, when its leaders have lived largely in secret.

Nick Carter, Britain’s chief of the defence staff, said he was in contact with former Afghan President Hamid Karzai who Carter said would meet the Taliban on Wednesday.

“We have to be patient, we have to hold our nerve and we have to give them the space to form a government and we have to give them the space to show their credentials,” Carter told the BBC. “It may be that this Taliban is a different Taliban to the one that people remember from the 1990s.”

“We may well discover, if we give them the space, that this Taliban is of course more reasonable but what we absolutely have to remember is that they are not a homogenous organisation – the Taliban is a group of disparate tribal figures that come from all over rural Afghanistan.”

Carter said the Taliban were essentially “country boys” who lived by the so called “Pashtunwali”, the traditional tribal way of life and code of conduct of the Pashtun people.

“It may well be a Taliban that is more reasonable,” Carter said. “It’s less repressive. And indeed, if you look at the way it is governing Kabul at the moment, there are some indications that it is more reasonable.”

Some British army veterans, though, were doubtful.

“People should not be seduced by these smooth words,” Charlie Herbert, a former British army major general who served in Afghanistan and also worked as a senior NATO adviser, told Sky News.

“The Taliban need international recognition. They’ve taken power by force and they’re now desperate for international recognition, from China, from Russia and the West, they need that. So of course they’re going to use these charming words about equal opportunities for women,” he said.

Herbert said there is no evidence the Taliban has moderated.

“They are waiting, they are biding their time until we leave Kabul and then the bloodletting will start when there are no journalists and no internationals to see it.”

ISLAMABAD, AUG 18 /DNA/ – Formation of an inclusive government combining all political shades and announcement of mass pardon in Afghanistan on the model of the conquest of Makkah will guarantee peace and stability which are much needed in the war-ravaged country following the Taliban’s ascendance to power in Kabul. This will also pave the way for recognition of the Taliban-led government, once formed, by regional countries including Pakistan.
This was noted at a session titled ‘Emerging Scenario in Afghanistan: Implications & Policy Options for Pakistan’ which was organized by Institute of Policy Studies to shed light on the dramatic fall of Kabul to the Taliban and its implications for Pakistan and the region.
Pakistan’s former ambassador to Afghanistan and IPS Vice Chairman Syed Abrar Hussain chaired the session while IPS Chairman Khalid Rahman gave the concluding remarks. Among the discussants were Brigadier (r) Said Nazir, defence and security analyst; Ambassador (r) Ayaz Wazir, Afghan affairs expert; Air Commodore (r) Khalid Iqbal, former Assistant Chief of Air Staff, PAF; Dr Tughral Yamin, Dean Center of International Peace and Stability, NUST; senior journalist Faizullah Khan; and Tajammul Altaf, former ambassador and senior research associate at IPS.
Khalid Iqbal was concerned about the “do more” mantra echoing in some corners of the western media which is holding Pakistan responsible for US failures in Afghanistan. He believed that Washington, out of frustration, is in search of a scapegoat to avoid the fallout of its botched-up mission in Afghanistan.
He warned against the cessation of financial aid from western countries to Afghanistan and urged Pakistan to step up its efforts and support for reconstruction of new Afghanistan. He stressed the need for improving people-to-people contact and bilateral trade between both neighbours and advised the government of Pakistan to avoid raising controversial issues with the Taliban-led government at this stage.
He further added that the chaotic pull-out from Afghanistan has tarnished the global superpower image of the US, which has reduced its complete reliance on India for containment of China in the region following the failure of India in Doklam and Ladakh vis-à-vis China.
Commenting on the military tactic of the Taliban, Brigadier (r) Said Nazir was of the view that the militant group adopted a multi-pronged strategy to seize power. On the diplomatic front, he said, the group was building good relations with regional countries through official visits while on the other hand they kept gaining control of border areas of Afghanistan to nip any future resistance in the bud. He termed the fall of Kabul as a swift and bloodless coup de grace.
He also urged Pakistani authorities to regulate border management effectively with regards to Afghanistan and pay caution to India’s manoeuvres in the region which is acting like a wounded hound after the fall of the Ghani regime.
Ayaz Wazir appreciated the changed stance of the Taliban regarding women’s education, human rights and press freedom, and hoped that the Taliban will be able to establish an inclusive government reflecting all ethnic and political shades of the country.
He underscored the need for recognition of the Taliban-led government by Pakistan once an inclusive government is formed in Kabul. After the recognition, he stressed, a delegation comprising journalists and politicians from Pakistan should visit Afghanistan to remove any misconceptions prevailing between both nations and pave the way for better bilateral ties. According to him, this will decimate the chances of Indian sponsored terrorism in Pakistan.
Dr Tughral was of the view that Pakistan should be the first country to give legitimacy to the Taliban through recognition of their government as this will be remembered in the annals of history as a friendly gesture from Pakistan towards the people of Afghanistan. He opined that Pakistan should provide political, financial and diplomatic aid to Afghanistan in this need of hour and facilitate Afghan students and universities for access to quality education.
It was also observed during the session that the US exit from Afghanistan and the removal of the Delhi-backed Kabul government is the beginning of a new chapter in the history of Afghanistan. This warrants a strategy from Pakistan that can expedite regional cooperation to serve both current and long-term challenges vis-à-vis Afghanistan.
While concluding the session, Khalid Rahman put forth an ideal scenario underlining development agenda of Afghanistan through exploitation of natural resources, regional connectivity, and improved bilateral/multilateral trade. He also stressed the need for conducting studies to probe how much the USA spent on the welfare of the Afghans versus how much money it actually spent on appeasing corrupt officials of previous governments during the past 20 years.
He was of the opinion that Afghanistan can survive the absence of aid from the US and EU as the former’s netizens have proved it over the years. He believed the Afghans can boost Pakistan’s economy by investing billions of dollars as they have done in Turkey provided they are facilitated in this regard.
He urged the Pakistan government to create a conducive environment where Afghan refugees could return to their homeland in a dignified manner as Pakistan’s ambassadors on Afghan soil. Cricket diplomacy, he added, can further bring both nations closer as love for the game is shared on both sides of the border.