Kabul residents are running out of cash and struggling with rising prices
Source: Washington Post
Kabul residents are running out of cash and struggling with rising prices
Afghans gather outside a bank in Kabul on Aug. 25, 2021. (Akhter Gulfam/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)
By Haq Nawaz Khan and Ellen Francis
Today at 10:50 a.m. EDT
Afghans are struggling to find cash to buy basic goods that are getting more expensive as the country faces a cash squeeze more than a week into the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul.
The Islamist militants — who have seen many key sources of national income choked off — have now banned people from moving dollars out of Afghanistan. Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s spokesman, declared on Tuesday that they would stop Afghans carrying dollars out “by air or land” and seize the bills.
Many ATMs are empty in the capital, and people have had to wait hours to take out money in recent days. Some Kabul residents told The Washington Post that they could find only a single open ATM on Wednesday morning.
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“People are running out of cash, and everyone is waiting for banks to reopen,” one doctor in the capital said on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
On the Wednesday morning, after the Taliban ordered banks to reopen for the first time since the group’s resurgence in mid-August, residents said most bank doors remained closed. Long lines formed outside some banks, but it was unclear whether any actually opened their doors or whether only access to ATMs was involved.
“We have not received reports of opening of the banks, but everything will be normal soon to end people worries,” Bilal Karimi, an aide to Taliban spokesman Mujahid, said earlier from Kabul.
But rising prices, shuttered businesses and the scramble for cash have heightened uncertainty in the city. The local currency has tumbled since the Taliban staged its rapid advance amid the U.S. military withdrawal.
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By Ellen Francis
Ellen Francis is a reporter covering breaking news for The Washington Post in London. Twitter https://twitter.com/ellen_fra
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/25/afghanistan-economy-kabul/
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