“What we have become very painfully aware of in recent weeks is that the freefall of the economy is much more violent, severe and urgent than we feared,” Griffiths told VOA recently. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths says Afghanistan needs flexible and sustained international funding before the end of this year to prevent the further collapse of the economy, and he will press the United States to help during meetings in Washington next week. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.U.N. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at for further information. (SOUNDBITE OF ERIK FRIEDLANDER'S 'NIGHT WHITE')Ĭopyright © 2021 NPR. Catanzano says it's the Afghan people who are paying the price. had warned the Taliban that aid would stop flowing into the country if the Islamist group claimed power by military force rather than at the negotiating table. NORTHAM: Thomas West, the special representative for Afghanistan, tweeted recently that the U.S. If families can't buy food, we can't break that cycle of malnutrition. People need banks and markets in order to survive. But Catanzano, with the International Rescue Committee, says that's not enough.ĬATANZANO: Even if we can deliver more aid to more people, we can't replace a functioning public sector. for help, and the World Bank is also looking at ways to get humanitarian aid into Afghanistan. There's a $4 billion appeal from the U.N. In September, the Treasury Department issued two sanctions exemptions for humanitarian aid. PFORZHEIMER: They do have the example of other sanctions in the world, such as Iran, where even well-intentioned flows of money are going to be subject to litigation. Pforzheimer says, many international aid organizations and companies are concerned about violating those sanctions. sanctions on the Taliban and its leaders. But complicating the issue are punishing U.S. NORTHAM: Pforzheimer says the Biden administration needs to find creative ways to help the people of Afghanistan without lining the pockets of the Taliban. If money went to the Taliban, there's absolutely no indication that they would spend it well or fairly.

Embassy in Kabul.ĪNNIE PFORZHEIMER: Since the Taliban have seized control of the central bank, there's no way to release those sorts of funds without the Taliban gaining control of them. But the U.S., like most countries, does not recognize the Taliban as a legitimate government of Afghanistan and doesn't want them to have access to any foreign funding, says Annie Pforzheimer, who did two stints as deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Imagine you had a bank account and the bank just decided to take your money. MARK WEISBROT: There's nothing legal or legitimate about this. He says that $9 billion represents about 18 months of imports that the Afghan economy needs. Mark Weisbrot is with the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a D.C.-based think tank. also froze about $9 billion of Afghanistan's central bank assets that was being held in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Roughly $5 billion of foreign aid from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and other international donors used to make up the bulk of the government's budget, but that was suspended after the Taliban victory.ĬATANZANO: So that means the ability to pay salaries, to keep clinics open, to keep clean water flowing is really, really sapped right now because there's literally no money to do it. She says Afghanistan's economy is in freefall. NORTHAM: Amanda Catanzano is the acting vice president for policy and advocacy at the International Rescue Committee. Over half of the kids under age of 5 are expected to be acutely malnourished next year.

But now the situation is much worse.ĪMANDA CATANZANO: Over half of all Afghans are expected to be in crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity in the coming year. There was widespread drought and COVID was racing through the country. Four decades of war had left its economy fragile. JACKIE NORTHAM, BYLINE: Even before the Taliban retook control in August, Afghanistan was in bad shape. Unfreezing those funds would help, but as NPR's Jackie Northam reports, that's not easy to do. Billions of dollars in international aid has dried up since the Taliban seized control nearly four months ago, leading to widespread shortages of money, food and health care. International aid agencies say Afghanistan is facing a humanitarian disaster.

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