Banks in Kabul reopen, drawing crowds of cash-starved Afghans

People stand in long queues to withdraw money after some banks reopened in the Afghan capital.

Kabul, Afghanistan – After more than a week of closures, banks in Afghanistan are starting to reopen, drawing crowds of hundreds of people eager to finally have physical cash in their hands once again. Financial institutions in Kabul largely shut on the afternoon of August 15, just before the former President Ashraf Ghani fled and the Taliban arrived in the capital. Initially, the closings were in response to fears that the group’s arrival in the city would see bloodshed and looting. As the days passed, though, the banks remained shuttered due to Washington’s decision to cut off access to $7bn of the Afghan Central Bank’s gold and cash reserves in the Federal Reserve. The International Monetary Fund also cut off access to more than $370m in loans it had promised.