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"office foreign asset control" Discussed on The World: Latest Edition

"Everyone metabolize is the differently. This slow metabolisers fast metabolize but all the health benefits of coffee. Thank you very much of the recommendations. I gotta say i feel better already. Sanjiv chopra is a professor at harvard medical school and author of the forthcoming book. Coffee the magical elixir. Great to speak with you. Thank you thank you great to be with you just ahead. We fill in the financial picture in afghanistan for you. You're listening to the world. I'm marco werman. You're with the world afghanistan. In addition to its many challenges right now is also one of the poorest countries in the world. Many people there rely on money from abroad in two thousand twenty. Afghans received nearly eight hundred million dollars from their relatives of the country. That lifeline was broken when money. Transfer services stopped operating after the taliban takeover. The world's monica campbell has this report mohammad. Nabi mohammadi is trying to find a quiet place in his apartment in fort worth texas. I mean just go to the other room okay. He's thirty five and has five kids so it's rarely quiet. It's also where that he's even home. He's a truck driver and is usually on the road. Crisscrossing the us hauling everything from flour and sugar to kitchen appliances. But wherever he is he makes time every few weeks to pullover and wire cash to his mom in afghanistan. We have to send some money for my brother to her for the food. And sometimes we'll spend 'electricity so water bill and but most of the time for the food. Yes he usually sends five hundred dollars through western union in two thousand. Thirteen mohammadi left afghanistan after working as an interpreter for the us military. His brothers did that work to and also left now. Just one still lives enough ghanistan hoping to take care of their mom but at the moment mohammadi can't make those wire transfers. You're the situation is very very bad and an possible now. Because i cannot send money. Western union and money grams suspended services in afghanistan after the taliban took power western union. Now says it will resume service but that might be complicated because wire transfers depend on banks and there's a massive run on banks in the country videos posted on social media. Show bank lines in kabul stretching for blocks and blocks. There's also a cash shortage of the local currency banks have put limits on how much money people can withdraw. It is the most serious issue. Many people are facing room. Rahimi is a law professor with the american university of afghanistan in kabul. It's a matter that you will be able to get food to eat. And you have to realize it wouldn't have already below the poverty line and people who govern salaries half a million afghans at half. A million households dependent government salaries. Most people don't know if they have a job or not. With the current situation mohammad nabi mohammadi in texas is telling his brother in afghanistan to just sell whatever he can. we had one cone. I told him that if settled a car. If somebody's buying sell anything new can Sell something that can get some out how we can ask. I speak with a university student in kabul. His last name is han. He doesn't want to include his full name for security reasons because the taliban have labeled his university as a training ground for infidels the campus has faced deadly attacks multiple times. Hans also worried about cash. He says a relative in the. Us was wiring money to his family right up until the taliban takeover of my cousin lives in indiana and amazon. Trevor in indiana hans says that cash helped more than two dozen of his relatives pay for rent food and medicine. That assistance is even more critical now. That many of hans relatives have lost their jobs in afghanistan. There can't even support themselves disappoint. Us i come to support them manuals mansions at the same. The taliban say they want people to get back to work. But it's not clear how soon the new government can start paying salaries. Han says he was hoping to tell his cousin in the us to stop sending money that he'd graduate from college in afghanistan and start supporting his relatives himself in his tent. Is michael mike. Country might be but things have changed so for now. Those hopes are on hold for the world. I'm monica campbell. Afganistan has also lost much of its foreign aid and access to foreign currency reserves this week. The new head of afghanistan's central bank tried to reassure people that the taliban want fully functioning financial system. Alex is watching closely. He served and treasury department at the us embassy in kabul from two thousand eighteen to twenty nineteen. It looks now like western union will restart operations in afghanistan. How significant is that. It's an important step but certainly not the only thing that's going to be required to get the afghan economy up and running again. Remittances compose about four percent of gdp. About eight hundred million dollars. And so that's that's an important indicator but the larger issue is close to eight plus billion dollars of international assistance annually. That goes into afghanistan. That composes closer to forty percent of gdp so looking at the country's banking system overall start there even before the taliban took over. What did it consist of. It was quite anemic. So it's about twelve banks about four billion dollars in assets under management. That's a small fraction of the overall economy. So with the taliban taking over the government about a quarter of the banks three of them are state-owned. So there is a very live question of whether or not those. Three banks are automatically subject to fac. Us government sanctions economic sanctions of. That's for nasa controller. Yes the office. Foreign assets control which which manages the us sanctions program within the treasury department. Those three banks also were involved in providing significant amount of payroll services for afghan government employees and military officials and now the government has taken over by the taliban it raises other very challenging question. Let's talk about foreign currency reserves. How much is there. And what access is the taliban have to them about. Nine billion dollars of the afghan government napkin people's money that are in foreign reserves overseas and the treasury department partners took very swift action. Sunday that kabul fell to deny the taleban access to that money so roughly seven billion dollars that was parked in the united states in other two billion other countries. That was the rainy day. Fund for the afghan people in the afghan government to provide import coverage in the event of a catastrophic emergency or the need to find other ways to pay for imports of basic goods and supplies like food. The issue is that that was never designed as a day-to-day spending account. Rather it was the eight to nine billion dollars of us. International assistance which provided for salaries which provide for government spending in afghanistan to prop up the afghan economy in the afghan government. Those funds as well have been suspended along with imf support the international monetary fund. So what would it take for the taliban government to regain access to those reserves. This is a very very open question right now. If went to open up these funds or restore these funds back to the afghan government now controlled by the taliban. But i think the taliban's behavior will dictate a lot of future. Us government action with respect to both humanitarian assistance in the future of these reserves what is keeping the afghan economy going at this point heroin. Unfortunately the international aid is the largest source of funds in the country. The second largest was heroin. The taliban has publicly committed to getting out of the heroin trade but when it has been such a lucrative cash cow for the taliban. I don't see how they can get rid of it. On the other side those smuggling channels they get the heroin into markets in europe and around the world in other parts of asia can also repurpose for smuggling other things like people and that's a very big concern as well about a refugee crisis again. The taliban has very listen ways to raise revenue within the country without substantial international assistance. So they're gonna have to get very creative very quickly about how to raise revenue. Alexander served as treasury department financial attache at the us embassy in kabul from two thousand eighteen to nineteen. He's founder principal of capital peak strategies. Alex thank you very much for being with us. Thank you so much for having me. You're listening to the world..