US freezes Afghan central bank's assets of $9.5 billion

The U.S. has frozen nearly $9.5 billion in assets belonging to the Afghan central bank and stopped shipments of cash to the nation as it tries to keep a Taliban-led government from accessing the money, an administration official confirmed.

The official said that any central bank assets that the Afghan govt has in the US will not be available to the Taliban, which remains on the Treasury Department's sanctions designation list.

Ajmal Ahmady, acting head of Da Afghan Bank, the nation's central bank, early Monday tweeted that he learned on Friday that shipments of dollars would stop as the U.S. tried to block any Taliban effort to gain access to the funds. DAB has $9.5 billion in assets, a sizeable portion of which is in accounts with the New York Federal Reserve and U.S.-based financial institutions.

US sanctions on the Taliban mean that they cannot access any funds. The vast majority of DAB's assets are not currently held in Afghanistan, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The United States on Thursday saluted Albania, Canada, Chile, Mexico and Uganda for agreeing to take in Afghans being evacuated in a major airlift after the Taliban victory. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke by telephone with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, who announced Sunday just as the Taliban were taking over Kabul that he had agreed to a request to accept hundreds of Afghans temporarily on their way to the United States.

Blinken "thanked Prime Minister Rama for continuing Albania's proud tradition of sheltering people in need," a State Department statement said.

The State Department also voiced gratitude to Qatar and Kuwait, two US military hubs where thousands of Afghans are being flown for visa processing, but it is scrambling to find more temporary locations due to rapid overcrowding. State Department

spokesman Ned Price also offered appreciation to Uganda, where President Yoweri Museveni voiced willingness to take in Afghans temporarily, and said discussions were ongoing with several European allies to do likewise.

Price named Canada, Chile

and Mexico as countries that have agreed to resettle Afghans and praised them for their generosity.

The Canadian government said last week it will take in up to 20,000 Afghan refugees including women leaders, government workers and others facing threats from the Taliban. The United States has agreed to welcome on a path to citizenship tens of thousands of Afghans who served as interpreters or in other support roles in the 20-year US war effort that was ended by President Joe Biden.