New Printed Afghani Will Replace Banknotes: West

According to West, there will be an additional advisory body of Afghan professionals and experienced people.

The US special envoy for Afghanistan, Thomas West, said that the “new printed Afghani will replace bank notes” in Afghan markets.

He made the remarks while speaking about the Afghan frozen funds in a Zoom conference.

“So I am very pleased to say that in the past 24 hours, we finally have seen the conclusion of currency transaction… this will mean that new printed Afghani will replace banknotes that … are virtually disintegrating in the system.”

“I don’t have a great sense of exactly when those banknotes are going to show up in Afghanistan, but we are going to continue supporting the priority transaction,” West said.

However, the time when the new banknotes will enter the Afghan markets has not been determined.

In the conference West said that in August 2021 it was not the executive branch that told the banks to suspend access, it was the banks.

He said the first meeting of the board of trustees is expected to take place next month in Switzerland.

West said the board of trustees, which is comprised of representatives from the US and Switzerland, as well as Anwar ul-Haq Ahady, who formerly served as Afghan Minister of Commerce and Industry, and Shah Mohammad Mehrabi, will make major decisions about the $3.5 billion Afghan assets.

According to West, there will be an additional advisory body of Afghan professionals and experienced people.

The US envoy said al-Zawahiri’s presence in Kabul was a “flagrant” violation of the Doha deal. Referring to US cooperation with the Islamic Emirate over counter-terrorism, West said that fulfilling the commitments of the deal in this regard is “their job.” But there will be some cooperation.

New Printed Afghani Will Replace Banknotes: West