The World Bank is working to free up $500 million dollars from a frozen Afghanistan aid fund to humanitarian agencies, but the plan to redirect the funds remains riddled with complications including stifling US sanctions.
Afghanistan’s 39 million people face a cratering economy, a winter of food shortages and growing poverty three months after the Taliban seized power as the last US troops withdrew from 20 years of war.
Afghan experts said the aid would help but big gaps and difficulties remain, including how to get the funds into Afghanistan without exposing the financial institutions involved to US sanctions as well as the lack of a mechanism to monitor disbursements of funds in Afghanistan to ensure Taliban leaders and fighters do not access them.
The World Bank suspended disbursements after the Taliban takeover and at the same time Washington stopped supplying US dollars to the country and joined in freezing some $9 billion in Afghan central bank assets and halted financial assistance.
Concern over sanctions continue to prevent the passage of even basic supplies, including food and medicine.