The Biden administration’s decision to effectively seize the Afghan central bank’s foreign reserves is likely to deepen Afghanistan’s already devastating economic crisis, according to Afghan bankers and economists and international aid workers.
In an executive order signed on Friday, U.S. President Biden blocked the roughly $7 billion foreign exchange reserves of Afghanistan’s central bank, known as Da Afghanistan Bank, held on U.S. soil. The White House said it plans to split the sum in two, transferring half to a trust fund set up to assist the Afghan people and for now setting aside the rest for potential compensation for families of 9/11 victims in ongoing court proceedings.
