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U.N. has millions in Afghanistan bank, but cannot use it
The United Nations has about $135 million in the bank in Afghanistan but is unable to use it because the Islamic Emirate-run central bank cannot convert it to the afghani currency, a senior U.N. official said on Thursday.
Abdallah al Dardari, head of the U.N. Development Programme in Afghanistan, said the United Nations had taken the U.S. dollars into the country and deposited it with the Afghanistan International Bank “with a clear promise from the central bank that fresh cash will be automatically converted to afghanis.”
“This did not happen,” he told the ACAMS Global Sanctions Space Summit, adding that UNDP itself has “$30 million stuck at AIB that I cannot convert to afghanis and without afghanis as you can imagine, we cannot implement all our programs.”
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), who seized power in August, banned the use of foreign currency in a country where U.S. dollars were common.
The IEA has long been under international sanctions, which the United Nations and aid groups say are now hindering humanitarian operations in Afghanistan, where more than half the country’s 39 million people suffer extreme hunger and the economy, education and social services face collapse.
Billions of dollars in Afghan central bank reserves and foreign development aid have been frozen to prevent it from falling into IEA hands. International banks are wary of breaching sanctions, leaving the United Nations and aid groups struggling to get enough money into the country.
Liquidity is also a problem. Al Dardari told Reuters in November that while there was about $4 billion worth of afghanis in the economy, only about $500 million worth was in circulation.
The United Nations and the World Bank are discussing a possible swap facility, aid groups and U.N. officials have said.
Al Dardari said on Thursday that this would allow cash for humanitarian operations to be paid into a mechanism abroad and then afghanis could be collected “from major traders and mobile companies from inside Afghanistan.”
He also said lessons could be learned from a program in Myanmar, where electronic payment systems bypassed the central bank. Myanmar’s military have been hit with a raft of sanctions by the United States and others since a coup a year ago.
The international community should not forget the Afghan people and should not politicize the humanitarian issue, the country’s minister of refugees and repatriation said on Sunday.
“We ask all the countries of the world to put politics, formalities and military issues aside. Immigration has its own rules. The ministry of refugees was created to solve the problems of refugees,” Khalil-ur-Rahman Haqqani said in an aid distribution ceremony in Kabul.
He noted that now that peace prevails throughout Afghanistan, the international community should cooperate with them in returning Afghan refugees instead of forcing Afghans to migrate.
“The international community should provide livelihoods and transportation facilities. The international community should not forget the people of Afghanistan,” Haqqani said.
In Afghanistan, many families struggle with poverty, so women and men stand in long queues to receive aid.
Among the needy women, there are also those who have even been forced to give their children to others out of poverty.
“I gave my daughter to my sister out of necessity. I could not afford bread and clothes for her,” Gulnar, one of the needy women said.
“My husband is jobless. We are four in our family,” Shakiba, another woman said.
Although aid is a short term solution to helping the needy, officials have called for large, sustainable programs in order to eradicate poverty.
“Ten aid items will be distributed. These materials are enough for a family of five to seven people for three months. We have also considered nutritional balance. For example, this aid includes flour, rice, dal, sugar, tea and salt,” said Fariduddin Nouri, head of Women for Afghan Women NGO.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has announced that a joint committee will be established between the consular section of the ministry and the Pakistani embassy in Kabul in order to facilitate the movement of nationals between the two countries.
According to the ministry, an agreement was reached on the formation of this committee on Saturday in a meeting between Amir Khan Muttaqi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the IEA and Obaid ur Rehman Nizamani, Chargé d’Affaires of the Pakistan Embassy in Kabul.
In this announcement, which was published on the Twitter page of Hafiz Zia Ahmad, the deputy spokesman of the foreign ministry, it is stated that an agreement was reached on the creation of this committee at the “request and insistence” of the foreign minister.
Ahmad added that the charge d’affaires of the Pakistani embassy requested an extended visa period for Pakistani students who come to Afghanistan to study.
According to the Deputy Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Muttaqi has “assured” the charge d’affaires of the IEA’s cooperation in this regard.
A magnitude-5.2 earthquake occurred in northeastern Afghanistan at 10:19 on Sunday, with it’s epicenter 36 km southeast of Jurm.
The quake was felt across the region including parts of India, Pakistan, and southern Tajikistan.
There have been no initial reports of damage or casualties as a result of the earthquake.
However, it could take several hours until authorities can conduct comprehensive damage assessments, especially in remote areas.
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