Monitoring Desk
GENEVA: The United Nations (UN) issued a rebuke on Saturday against Taliban-controlled central bank of Afghanistan for its remarks regarding cash entering the country for humanitarian work, calling the comments ‘unhelpful and misleading’.
The central bank of Afghanistan had tweeted earlier on Saturday that a package of $40 million of humanitarian aid arrived and been deposited in a commercial bank in Kabul. The tweet had photos of stacks of cash. It further said that it appreciated any principled move that would bring currency to Afghanistan and help the needy.
Taking strong exception to the statement, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan tweeted that the cash shipped to Afghanistan is kept in UN accounts in a private bank, and the money is used by its agencies to support its humanitarian work. It said that announcements by non-UN entities about UN funds transfers were unhelpful and misleading.
United Nations transfers cash to Afghanistan
As per the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) information sheet, the UN transfers cash shipments to Afghanistan due to the liquidity issues and disruptions to international banking transfers that have troubled the Afghan economy since the takeover of the country by Taliban.
The information sheet stated that the money is placed into the UN’s private account in a bank and later distributed directly among entities as well as a small number of vetted humanitarian partners in Afghanistan. No money is placed into the central bank of Afghanistan or given to the authorities of the Taliban.
Since December 2021, the United Nations has brought in $1.8 billion in funds for its partners to do their work.
Taliban takeover
Afghanistan saw much of its foreign aid and assets dry and frozen after the Taliban’s takeover. After a list of sanctions on Afghan banks, many foreign banks also became reluctant to any process involving Afghan banks.
The big picture
In recent weeks, a spike in tensions between the Taliban and the UN had emerged due to the ban on female employment and education by the former. After the Taliban established a new government in Afghanistan in September 2021, they initially claimed that it would honor the rights of women within the Islamic law’s “frameworks’’. However, the Taliban has moved quickly to restrict females from going to secondary school. In November, the Taliban banned women from parks and using gyms. In December, the Taliban announced a ban on women going to private and public universities, and a week later, they banned women from working for nongovernmental organizations.
