US commits to Afghan asset talks

US President Joe Biden’s administration will press ahead with talks on releasing billions of dollars in Afghanistan’s foreign-held assets despite late al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri’s presence in Kabul and foot-dragging by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) and Afghan central bank, according to three sources with knowledge of the situation.

The decision to pursue the initiative to help stabilize Afghanistan’s collapsed economy underscores growing concern in Washington over a humanitarian crisis as the United Nations warns that nearly half the country’s 40 million people face “acute hunger” as winter approaches, Reuters reported.

At the core of the US-led effort, as Reuters reported last month, is a plan to transfer billions in foreign-held Afghan central bank assets into a proposed Swiss-based trust fund.

Disbursements would be made with the help of an international board and bypass the IEA, many of whose leaders are under US and UN sanctions.

US State Department and Treasury officials told independent analysts at an August 11 briefing – 12 days after a CIA drone strike killed al-Qaeda leader Zawahiri on a balcony of his Kabul safehouse – they will pursue the talks despite frustration with the pace, two sources said on condition of anonymity, Reuters reported.

The IEA and Afghan central bank are not acting swiftly, a US official said, according to one source.

The State Department declined to comment on the briefing.

A knowledgeable US source who requested anonymity confirmed the briefing’s substance, Reuters reported.

“The strike did not change the US government’s commitment to setting up the international trust fund” and it is “working with the same speed and alacrity as before the strike,” said the US source.