![]() But more than $7 billion worth of goods were imported. But if they remove those rules, people will withdraw everything they have, the banks will collapse and the afghani will plunge into the abyss because people only want to use dollars."Īfghanistan’s legal exports in recent years – coal, dried fruits, fruit and carpets, for example – only brought in less than a billion dollars per year, with narcotics exports adding another $600 million on top of that. "If they keep the current rules in place, whereby not even businessmen are allowed to withdraw more than $25,000 per month, companies and traders will go out of business. "But that’s not enough." How, he wonders, should a cleric with generally limited knowledge of the Koran be able to recognize state excesses without understanding them? "They are stuck in a dilemma," he continues. The Taliban, concedes a third bank executive, are earnest in their efforts to address the corruption of the former government. ![]() "But China isn’t going to invest billions in an uncertain project." Having once worked for several years in the Ministry of Mines, he knows what he is talking about. Beijing would have had to pay for the mine and the roads and rail lines leading to it, he says. Even the copper mine project in Aynak, in which the Chinese initially planned to invest, has been dead for years, he says. Afghanistan is on the brink of a bright future!" That, though, the banker goes on, is exactly what Hamid Karzai said 10 years ago when he was still president. "We have immense quantities of natural resources, he told me, and China will invest in the mining of lithium, iron, copper. ![]() They don’t trust anybody, and they make no decisions."Īnother banker, following a discussion with a Taliban vice president, says it reminded him of the empty promises made many years ago. Clerics are in all of the leadership positions and they don’t have a clue about international financial deals, about the complicated financing models with foreign currency set up by Afghan ministries. "They claim that they’ll listen to our expertise,” says one frustrated vice president of the country’s largest private bank. Most of the discussions took place in private residences and almost nobody wanted to be quoted by name for this piece. Over the course of several weeks, DER SPIEGEL met with several top executives who have remained in the country – bank managers, executives at large state holding companies and senior leaders at other companies. Forecasts from the UN’s World Food Program are sounding increasingly apocalyptic, with the general assumption being that the entire economy could collapse within weeks.īut in the eye of the brewing storm, among the few senior Taliban leaders who meet with business leaders, banks and technocrats from the previous state apparatus, the message is always the same: "Be patient! We’ll assemble a committee to address your questions. Washington, Berlin and Brussels have frozen the country’s assets and suspended payments to the country and all development projects, aside from emergency humanitarian aid – aid that was originally intended for the drought-stricken western part of the country, but which is now needed everywhere. The Taliban itself isn’t completely to blame for this state of affairs. Gas for the oven now costs twice as much as it did, and the owner of the building has told us he has to increase the rent because it is his only source of income." "In July, a hundredweight of flour cost 1,300 afghani, now it costs 2,300. "But how is that supposed to work?" demands a furious Ihsanullah, who owns a bakery in northern Kabul. Fighting Back a Vast Flood with Bags of Sandīut the price of bread, that sacred staple of all Afghans and sold in Kabul from thousands of tiny bakeries, may not be increased. "If somebody does show up, they’re only interested in the damaged fruits," says one desperate vendor from behind his wagon full of shiny, deep-red pomegranates. Fall is harvest time for pomegranates in the country, but produce sellers, too, are waiting around for hours for customers. The number of beggars, particularly women, has exploded, and the streets of Kabul are lined with used washing machines, cabinets and pots that have been put up for sale – and which nobody is buying.
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