Afghanistan's Central Bank says no info on asset freeze, assures citizens' money is safe

Afghanistan's central bank, Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB), announced on Sunday, that it has not received any formal notification regarding the freezing of its assets yet. The bank issued a clarification concerning the money in the bank after people waited in long queues to withdraw their savings following the Taliban's takeover of Kabul in mid-August.

Da Afghanistan Bank mentioned that the bank heard about the freezing of monetary reserves through media reports but they have not received any proper notification. 

"So far, Da Afghanistan Bank has not received any formal notification pertaining to the freezing of monetary reserves of this bank and the bank has been informed of it through the news published by the media of the country based on the reports of foreign media", DBA said in a statement. 

After the Taliban took the control of Kabul and declared the country as an 'Islamic Emirate', the US was the first country to cut the Taliban's access to funds. The United States froze the Taliban’s access to billions of dollars in Afghanistan’s national reserves as the chaos continued in the war-ravaged country. According to a report by Washington Post, the Biden administration has frozen accounts at American banks that hosted money from Afghanistan’s national reserves, thereby cutting the insurgents’ access to the fortune left by the previous government. 

In a statement, Da Afghanistan Bank assured the people of Afghanistan about the safety of their money in commercial banks. The DBA had earlier issued an order to all the banks in Afghanistan about setting a weekly limit of withdrawals for a customer to 20,000 afghanis, according to ANI. Most of the banks in Afghanistan have resumed operations, ending nearly weeks-long disruption in financial services. 

Taliban on Tuesday, 7 September, announced the government of the 'Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan', naming Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, the head of the Taliban's powerful decision-making body 'Rehbari Shura' as its interim Prime Minister. He has Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar as his deputy. On 15 August, the Taliban took control of Kabul, wreaking havoc in Afghanistan and prompting the international community to evacuate their citizens. 

(With inputs from ANI, Image: AP)