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A US delegation met with senior Taliban officials in Uzbekistan to discuss efforts to withdraw $ 3.5 billion stomes in the central bank reserve as a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.
The US delegation told militant and technocrat groups that there was a need to accelerate efforts to unlock reserves and repeat funds must be used to benefit the people of Afghanistan, according to the Department of State Reading on Thursday. Special representatives for Afghanistan Thomas West and under the Treasury Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson led the US team.
This meeting marked the latest round of discussion between the two parties when Biden tried to build a mechanism to enable the Afghan government to use its central bank reserves, while limiting the Taliban access to the funds.
The militant group was still struggling to improve the economy that was hit by sanctions almost a year after taking over power when the US withdrew from the country. Afghanistan has lost international assistance that has contributed more than 40% of GDP and the United Nations has submitted several appeals for support, saying millions of people in Afghanistan face severe hunger.
The US International Development Agency said last month would provide almost $ 55 million assistance to Afghanistan to help those affected by a strong earthquake that killed nearly 1,000 people in South Asian countries.
President Joe Biden this year signed an executive order to help enable certain assets based in the US owned by the Afghan Central Bank, DA Afghanistan Bank, to be used to help its people. Orders block DAB property held in the US by local financial institutions and require them to transfer the assets into the consolidated account held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
