Recommendation 13

HM Government Acknowledged

We do not accept the Committee’s conclusion. We have been discussing this at senior level with the US and other bilateral partners, and directly with the UN, including key agencies, the World Bank, and other relevant institutions since September 2021. The Government used its diplomatic network to ensure the successful passage through the UN Security Council (UNSC) of UNSCR 2615 [2021], which provides a humanitarian exception to the UNSC’s 1988 Taliban sanctions regime. We acted promptly to ensure that this exception was passed into domestic legislation. We worked with Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) partners to ensure UK guidance was updated and worked to provide assurance to financial institutions. This has provided assurance to NGOs and financial institutions in their urgent delivery of humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan. In addition, both the FCDO and OFSI are bringing together NGOs and UK banks in a Trisector Group, and to ensure that we remain well sighted on developments on the ground as well as where we can be of assistance in overcoming barriers to aid delivery. There was not a strong pre-existing relationship between Afghan and Western banks, which is making resolving the banking crisis difficult. Western banks need to make commercial decisions on whether to engage with Afghan banks. There are currently significant risks, in part caused by the manner in which the Taliban seized power, their appointments to senior leadership positions in the Afghan Central Bank, the loss of key qualified staff, and uncertainty around the implementation of anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing legislation in Afghanistan. The UK has been influential in the establishment of mechanisms to help ease Afghanistan’s liquidity crisis. This includes co-leading a working group with the World Bank on Payment System Modalities for Humanitarian Aid Delivery in Afghanistan. This was a significant coordination meeting by the international community to find a resolution to Afghanistan’s liquidity crisis. We continue to play a key coordination role, including working to find solutions.