Afghan billions transferred to Swiss-based fund

Food aid distributed to people in Kabul, Afghanistan Keystone / Samiullah Popal

Some CHF3.2 billion ($3.5 billion) of frozen funds from the Afghan Central Bank has been transferred to a foundation based in Switzerland.

The United States “recently” transferred the money to Switzerland, stated the Tages Anzeiger newspaper on Sunday.

The establishment of the Afghan Fund follows months of talks between the US, the ruling Taliban government and Switzerland. It will be managed by an international board of trustees and is to be used to benefit the people of Afghanistan.

Afghanistan is in the grip of a devastating humanitarian crisis with nearly half of the 40 million population facing a hunger crisis, according to the United Nations. The economy has been in free fall following decades of war, drought and the Covid-19 pandemic.

The fund will focus on stabilising the Afghan economy and could pay for critical infrastructure, electricity imports and debt repayments.

However, no funds can be transferred to the Afghan Central Bank until it is established that it is “free of political interference”, US officials told the Reuters news agency.

In total, the US holds around $7 billion of Afghan assets that includes currency, bonds and gold. The remaining $3.5 billion, which has not been transferred to the trust, is awaiting judgement of an ongoing lawsuit against the Taliban in connection to the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US.