The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden canceled shipments of currency to Afghanistan as recently as last week before the Taliban captured Kabul, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources.
The decision was aimed at “keeping hundreds of millions of dollars from falling into the hands of a terrorist group,” the sources said.
The U.S. is also blocking Taliban access to government accounts managed by the Federal Reserve and other U.S. banking institutions and working to prevent access to nearly half a billion dollars in International Monetary Fund reserves, they said.
“Any assets … that the Afghan government has in the United States will not be transferred to the Taliban,” the source said.
The fleeing head of Afghanistan’s central bank, Ajmal Ahmadi, said he was aware that there would be no more shipments of dollars to Afghanistan. He noted that almost all the Afghan central bank’s $9 billion in reserves are overseas.
On August 15, the Taliban (organization banned in Russia) declared about establishing control over the whole territory of Afghanistan. President Ashraf Ghani agreed to resign and hastily fled the country, stuffing his helicopter with money.
