Three sources with knowledge of the negotiations said the US and Taliban have discussed transferring billions of dollars from Afghanistan’s central bank reserves froze overseas into a trust fund, a sign that attempts to alleviate the country’s economic crisis are making headway.
As two of the individuals put it, “significant gaps” exist between them including the Taliban’s unwillingness to replace the bank’s senior political appointees, one of whom is under US sanctions.
While freeing up funds won’t address all of Afghanistan’s financial problems, it will help a country that has been struck hard by a decline in foreign aid, a prolonged drought, and a devastating earthquake in June that killed more than 1,000 people. There will be a second winter in which millions of Afghans will go hungry because of the war.
According to a Taliban government source who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the Taliban do not reject the idea of a trust fund but are opposed to the US suggestion for third-party management of the fund that would keep and disperse deposits.
Talks have been taking place with Switzerland and other parties about the formation of a structure that would include a trust fund from which payments would be chosen by an international board, according to a US source who declined to be identified.
As the US source pointed out, the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund, operated by the World Bank, was established to help Kabul receive donations of international development aid.
There was no reaction from either the United States Department of State or the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland.
Since the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul in August, around $9 billion in reserves have been frozen outside Afghanistan, including $7 billion in the United States.
Since the Taliban’s return to power, they have been accused of human rights violations, including extrajudicial murders, by foreign governments and human rights organizations alike.
The international community wants the organization to improve its record on women rights before recognizing it as a legal entity.
The Taliban have vowed to look into reported executions and said they are trying to guarantee the rights of Afghans to education and freedom of expression within the confines of Islamic law. They have promised to investigate.
