The U.S. and Afghanistan are establishing a joint task force to keep an eye on the billions of dollars in cash flowing out of the Asian nation each year. U.S. and Afghan officials suspect that part of the money moving out of Afghanistan is from corruption and opium trafficking.
The Afghan Ministry of Finance and border police will work with the U.S. Treasury Department and contribute to the task force, U.S. ambassador in Kabul, Karl Eikenberry, said.
An estimated USD3.65 billion annually, or a tenth of Afghanistan’s gross domestic product, is being flown out of the nation through commercial flights in Kabul bound for Dubai. While much of the money is declared and legal to move, “we don’t have a clear understanding of the components of the cash leaving the country,” Eikenberry said.
The large cash flow has prompted U.S. and Afghan officials to check whether aid money is being diverted. But some Afghan officials have argued that development aid is usually channeled through foreign contractors, not the Afghan government.
“Because the cash leaving the country is so large, it has little to do with the aid money Afghanistan manages,” Afghan Finance Minister Omar Zakhilwal said.
Donors are looking at increasing the amount of development assistance directed through the Afghan government from 20 percent to 50 percent in the coming years, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Eikenberry said the Afghan finance ministry may jointly administer aid financing with the Asian Development Bank, or have the money held with the World Bank-managed Afghanistan Infrastructure Trust Fund to ensure that funds channeled directly through the Afghan government are used appropriately.
The move to examine cash flow out of the war-torn nation coincides with the U.S. government’s debt relief of USD108 million for Afghanistan announced July 22.
“Debt relief is crucial to Afghanistan’s broader poverty reduction effort,” Eikenberry said, adding that the resources freed up may be used for health and education efforts.
