- The US Treasury is holding firm on its freeze of Afghan central bank reserves, according to Reuters.
- Since August, the Taliban have tried to access close to $9.5 billion in assets located abroad.
- Deputy US Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said that sanctions and humanitarian aid would continue.
Wally Adeyemo, the Deputy US Treasury Secretary, said on Tuesday that there is no situation where the Taliban would have access to Afghan central bank reserves, which are largely stored in the US, according to Reuters.
"We believe that it's essential that we maintain our sanctions against the Taliban but at the same time find ways for legitimate humanitarian assistance to get to the Afghan people. That's exactly what we're doing," Adeyemo told the Senate Banking Committee, according to the report.
Reuters reported that the Taliban had asked for the US to allow access to the central bank's $9 billion in assets outside of Afghanistan after the US froze the assets in August, as the Taliban took over the country and now are facing an imploding economic crisis.
The Taliban has been unable to get its hands on the Afghan central bank's almost $10 billion in reserves, Insider previously reported.
"Our goal is to make sure that we are implementing our sanctions regime against the Taliban and the Haqqani network, but at the same time allowing for the permissible flow of humanitarian assistance into the country," Adeyemo said.