Afghanistan’s financial system is on the edge of collapse, with the banks remained closed after the Taliban regained power.
A series of photos show huge crowds of desperate Afghans who can be seen queueing outside a bank in Kabul.
According to reports, some locals that are ‘misbehaving’ are being thrown with stones and beaten with branches by Taliban militants standing guard as Afghanistan descends into chaos.
CNN sources at the Afghan central bank said that banks remain closed days after the Taliban ordered them and other services to reopen because they have virtually run out of cash.
“You’ve got a stack of cards that is about to come down,” one source familiar with the state of the Afghan economy told CNN. “As soon as you open the banks, it will expose how fragile the system is.”
“My coworkers are worried for their unclear destiny,” another source added.
After the Taliban took over a large part of the country, the Biden administration quickly blocked the group from accessing billions of dollars held by the Afghan central bank in the United States.
The International Monetary Fund stopped the $450million funding that was supposed to arrive in Afghanistan early this week, and the World Bank also froze financial support for the country.
The CNN source also said that the economic crisis will constitute an immediate governance test for the Taliban and could further destabilize Afghanistan.
There are concerns that the current financial crisis could create armed conflict between competing jihadist groups that will push the country into further anarchy.
Meanwhile, the Afghan banking group cited a ‘rapid depletion of cash,’ and called for the US to immediately grant access to the central bank assets, Mail Online reported.
“Without access soon, we fear the entire Afghan economy and banking sector will fail and liquidation of assets will be ordered,” the Afghan memo reads. “And public frustration and possible violence will soon result as the public [will] not be able to buy food and major services.”