America: Afghan Central Bank Not Independent from Taliban

A U.S. watchdog group for Congress revealed on Tuesday that a U.S.-funded assessment of the Afghan central bank found it lacking independence from the Taliban regime and insufficient safeguards against money laundering and terrorism financing. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction reported in a quarterly report to Congress that the evaluation identified shortcomings in the management of the central bank. The assessment indicated that the Afghan central bank "lacks independence from the Taliban system, and has deficiencies in anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing." The review was funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development through an external contractor. Last month, Reuters reported that the assessment, whose findings were not disclosed at the time, failed to secure Washington's support for the return of the bank's assets held in a $3.5 billion trust fund based in Switzerland. The fact that the bank lacks independence from the Taliban, who returned to power after the U.S. troop withdrawal in August 2021, seemingly points to three Taliban officials who oversee the bank and are under sanctions from the U.S. and the United Nations.