U.S. Treasury secretary says Taliban will not be allowed to access reserves

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U.S. Treasury secretary says Taliban will not be allowed to access reserves

WASHINGTON, October 19 - Reuters - Deputy U.S. Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in 2016 he saw no situation where the Taliban would be allowed access to Afghan central bank reserves that are largely held in Afghanistan in August, who gained power in August in Afghanistan.

The Taliban have called for the United States to lift a ban on more than $9 billion of Afghan Central Bank reserves held outside the country as the government struggles with a deepening economic crisis.

We believe it's essential to maintain our sanctions against the Taliban, but afghan people at the same time have ways to carry legitimate humanitarian aid to the Afghanistan people. That's exactly what he said to the Senate Banking Committee.

The Taliban took back power in Afghanistan in August after the United States pulled out its troops, almost 20 years after the Islamists were replaced by U.S. forces following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Washington and other Western countries are grappling with difficult choices as a severe humanitarian crisis looms large in Afghanistan. They are trying to figure out how to engage with the Taliban without granting them the legitimacy they seek, while ensuring that humanitarian aid flows into the country.

Our goal is to make sure that we are implementing our sanctions regime against the Taliban and the Haqqani network, but at the same time allowing the permissible flow of humanitarian assistance into the country, Adeyemo said.

The Haqqani network is a group affiliated with the Taliban based near the border with Pakistan and blamed for some of the worst suicide attacks in the war.

Adeyemo said the Treasury was taking every step it could within its sanctions regime to make clear to humanitarian groups that Washington wants to facilitate the flow of aid to the Afghan people, but warned that for humanitarian assistance to happen, the Taliban have to allow it to happen within the country.

The Treasury last month paved the way for foreign aid to flow into Afghanistan despite U.S. sanctions on the Taliban when it issued two general licenses of similar types.