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The U.S. is grappling with how to exert financial pressure on the Taliban to ensure Afghanistan doesn’t return to its role as a safe harbor for international terrorist groups, but a dearth of formal banking channels is complicating efforts.
“The banking system is fragile,” said Alex Zerden, who was a Treasury attache in Kabul in 2018 and 2019. He now runs Capitol Peak Strategies, a Washington financial technology and digital asset advisory firm. “The formal financial system is a very small part of the economy,” he said, adding that the hawala industry is both politically and economically important to the country, but the impact from sanctions can be limited.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-grapples-financial-pressure-taliban-145543948.html
