Biden administration blocks Taliban access to $9.5 billion of Afghan monetary reserves

The Biden administration froze around USD 9.5 billion in Afghan reserves and blocked cash from being shipped to the war-torn nation in a bid to prevent the Taliban from accessing the money on Tuesday.  According to media reports, the move came after US Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen and officials from the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control ordered the freezing of Afghan government reserves held in US banks on Sunday. An administration official informed that any central bank assets the Afghan government have in the United States would not be made available to the Taliban.

As per the reports, the US State Department and the White House were consulted before the move. The Biden administration was also considering further steps to put pressure on the Taliban.

Ajmal Ahmady, acting governor of Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB), the country's central bank, tweeted earlier this week that he heard on Friday that dollar shipments would cease because Washington would not allow the Taliban access to the cash. On Sunday, the Taliban captured Kabul, Afghanistan's capital, only hours after President Ashraf Ghani fled to a central Asian country, signalling the seizure of the war-torn country's government just days before US forces depart.

Amrullah Saleh said on Tuesday that he had taken over as caretaker president after Ashraf Ghani fled the war-torn nation. According to Saleh, in the absence, escape, or resignation of the President, the first vice president, instantly becomes the caretaker president, citing provisions in the Afghan Constitution.

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• Afghnaistan
• Taliban
• Joe Biden