JURIST EXCLUSIVE – Law students and lawyers in Afghanistan are filing reports with JURIST on the situation there after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban. Here, a lawyer in Kabul offers his observations and perspective on recent economic and security developments. For privacy and security reasons we are withholding our correspondent’s name and institutional affiliation. The text has been only lightly edited to respect the author’s voice.
Economy and Banking
The economic situation remains unstable and prices are gone higher than a few weeks ago.
Afghanistan’s central bank has announced that they have made some progress in transfer of money through telegraphic transfer (TT). Due to this, the commercial banks are now allowed to use this method for international money transactions. The TT mechanism is used for imported commodities by the traders. The TTs process is used for DAB auction participants screening; Letter of Credit and bank guarantees are thoroughly checked for AML/CFT risks and corrective measure is taken immediately. This actually is a big step if the banks outside Afghanistan process such TTs.
TTs are done in US dollars and the long delay in this process has caused the Afghani currency to lose its value. One USD was 87 AFN and now it is almost 91 AFN. In addition, unemployment remains a big challenge at the moment. I talked to one staff person at the central bank today and according to him many people aat the central bank have left their jobs. The Taliban have not paid their salaries.
Security
The Taliban have hanged two people accused of theft in Herat province. This happens when we as well as the international community are concerned about harsh implementation of Islamic rules. They did the same in Kunduz and Mazar a few days ago.
Additionally, the Taliban have fought with some people who they claimed to be members of ISIS-K in Kabul. This happened two days ago, and the fighting went on for almost three hours.
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