US Makes Exemptions for Taliban to Keep Aid Flowing to Afghanistan

December 23, 2021 Elizabeta Bozinovska Administration

The United States issued broad authorizations to ensure that humanitarian relief can be provided to Afghanistan by the UN, American government agencies, and aid groups without going against the sanctions against the Taliban.

The Biden administration formally exempted on Wednesday US and UN officials doing permitted business with the Islamists to maintain the flow of aid to the country as it sinks deeper into a humanitarian crisis.

Three licenses were issued on Wednesday by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) released, allowing “official business” with the Taliban and Haqqani Network – the two US-blacklisted Afghan groups- and authorizing NGOs to deal with them on activities involving humanitarian projects.

However, it is unclear if this move would pave the way for the proposed $6 million UN plan to subsidize next year the monthly wages and food allowances of Taliban-run Interior Ministry personnel who guard UN facilities.

There’s an ongoing debate whether such payments would violate US sanctions and the Treasury Department refused to confirm if the new license would exempt the proposed UN payments from the US sanctions against the Taliban.

Rep. Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, criticized the Biden’s administration’s decision stressing that the exemption increases the risk of American taxpayer funds being used to reward, legitimize and enable the same Taliban that took power forcefully and show no interest in abiding by international norms.

After the Taliban – designated as a terrorist group for years- seized power in August, Washington barred Americans from dealing with them and has ordered its US assets frozen, a step followed by other donors too, freezing more than $9 billion in Afghanistan’s hard currency assets.

These measures have accelerated Afghanistan’s economic crisis due to which about 55% of the population – nearly 23 million people – are facing extreme levels of hunger while nearly 9 million risk of famine during the winter.