VOA News February 15, 2022 Afghanistan’s hardline Islamic rulers say they plan to “reconsider” their policy towards the United States if the administration of President Joe Biden refuses to return the full $7 billion in assets that have been frozen in the United States. President Biden issued an executive order last Friday calling on banks
Ayaz Gul VOA News February 14, 2022 ISLAMABAD — India will begin sending 50,000 tons of wheat to Afghanistan through Pakistan next week, in rare cooperation between the two rival nations to help millions of Afghans facing severe food shortages. Islamabad agreed in November to New Delhi’s request to allow the supply of wheat through its
Ayaz Gul VOA News February 13, 2022 ISLAMABAD — Afghanistan’s former president, Hamid Karzai, joined the Taliban rulers Sunday in urging the United States to review its decision to allow half of the roughly $7 billion in his country’s foreign frozen assets to be reserved for families of victims of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Tolo News: At least 86 radio stations have halted operations over the past six months, media watchdog organizations reported, saying financial and political issues are the main reasons for the collapse of the Afghan media. February 13th marked the UN’s World Radio Day. Click here to read more (external link).
8am: Following Joe Biden’s executive order to cut Afghanistan’s foreign exchange reserves and release another part of the country’s funds, Pakistan’s representative to the United Nations Munir Akram said: “Half a loaf of bread is better than nothing.” Click here to read more (external link). Related US Decree on Afghan Assets Is Unjust, DAB Says
Shopkeepers in Kabul’s market believe that without the Taliban, it would be shut down by now, as people have no money. In a call-in program broadcast by RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi, a shopkeeper who chose to remain anonymous said on February 8 that the only thing that keeps it open are Taliban enforcers, who demand traders
Ariana: The United Nations aims to kick start this month a system to swap millions of aid dollars for Afghan currency in a plan to stem humanitarian and economic crises and bypass blacklisted Taliban leaders, according to an internal U.N. note seen by Reuters. Click here to read more (external link). Other Economic News “I’ve
By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi Abubakar Siddique February 11, 2022 Shamalgah was once a bustling agricultural village that housed hundreds of residents of the Bala Bulk district of Afghanistan’s western Farah Province. But their pastoral existence was shattered when fighting between the Taliban and the Afghan National Army placed the community squarely in the line of fire.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty February 11, 2022 U.S. President Joe Biden has signed an executive order that will free up some $7 billion in Afghan reserves that were frozen after the Taliban took control of the country in mid-August. The United States will set up a trust fund in the coming months to administer half
Katherine Gypson VOA News February 9, 2022 WASHINGTON — Six months after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, lawmakers have few good options for sending aid to prop up the struggling Afghan economy without enabling the Taliban. In the almost 20 years the U.S. was involved in Afghanistan, the country depended on foreign aid for more than