Meanwhile, the Taliban violently disbanded a protest, leaving one killed.
Afghanistan is low on physical U.S. dollars after the Taliban takeover because most of the nation’s $9 billion in reserves are held outside the country, the Associated Press reported Wednesday. „The amount of such cash remaining is close to zero due a stoppage of shipments as the security situation deteriorated, especially during the last few days,“ Ajmal Ahmady, Economic Advisor to the Afghanistan president, tweeted. The next shipment of cash was not delivered, likely because Afghanistan’s partners „had good intelligence as to what was going to happen,“ according to Ahmady. He said the lack of physical cash could lead to the depreciation of the afghani, Afghanistan’s currency. Many Afghans lined up at ATMs to pull out their life’s savings. Ahmady said the international sanctions will cause the Taliban to struggle to gain access to the country’s reserves. He added that the „Taliban won militarily — but now have to govern,“ and the group will not have an easy time doing so. For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below. The insurgents‘ every action in their sudden sweep to power is being watched closely. They insist they have changed and won’t impose the same draconian restrictions they did when they last ruled Afghanistan, all but eliminating women’s rights, carrying out public executions and harboring al-Qaida in the years before the 9/11 attacks. But many Afghans remain deeply skeptical, and the violent response to Wednesday’s protest could only fuel their fears. Thousands are racing to the airport and borders to flee the country. Many others are hiding inside their homes, fearful after prisons and armories were emptied during the insurgents‘ blitz across the country. Dozens of people gathered in the eastern city of Jalalabad to raise the national flag a day before Afghanistan’s Independence Day, which commemorates the end of British rule in 1919.
