Don't Lift Taliban Sanctions, House Republicans Tell Treasury
The Treasury Department should maintain and potentially expand sanctions on the Taliban and third-party entities that support them as the group takes over the Afghan government, Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee wrote in a recent letter to Secretary Janet Yellen. “We urge you and the rest of the Biden Administration to maintain a very healthy dose of skepticism about what the Taliban’s intentions and abilities are,” said the letter, signed by more than 15 members, including Michael McCaul of Texas, the committee’s top Republican. “We must maintain what leverage this administration has left to not only secure the evacuation of our citizens, allies, and Afghan partners from the clutches of a terrorist group, but to prevent another atrocity on American shores like the tragic attacks on 9/11.” The members added that “it is imperative that no sanctions against the Taliban are lifted to ensure our national security and the security of our citizens and partners is protected.”
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A Treasury spokesperson declined to say how the agency specifically plans to approach its Taliban sanctions but said “the international community has not reduced sanctions pressure on Taliban leaders or the significant restrictions on their access to the international financial system.”
The letter didn’t mention the sanctions’ impact on delivering humanitarian aid to the Afghan people, which has become a challenge for aid groups and banks (see 2109020064). Treasury plans to “ensure humanitarian assistance can continue to flow” to Afghan people and is working with allies on that effort, the spokesperson said. The spokesperson also said the agency issued a specific license Aug. 25 that authorizes transactions by the U.S. government “and its implementers” involving humanitarian aid, including the delivery of food and some health services.
Treasury has also told some financial institutions that they should “allow the flow of personal remittances,” the spokesperson said. “Western Union and MoneyGram report these flows have restarted. ... The United States will ensure humanitarian assistance can continue to flow to the Afghan people, and we will coordinate with allies and the international community to do so,” the spokesperson said. “No one, including the Taliban, should impede these efforts.”