The Biden administration is restarting U.S. funding to humanitarian aid programs in Afghanistan that were halted after the Taliban took control of the country, in what senior administration officials said is a key test of whether the group will interfere in such efforts.

       The U.S. Agency for International Development is redirecting more than $260 million that had been programmed for projects in Afghanistan before the Taliban takeover, the officials said, sending the money to programs providing food, medicine and other humanitarian aid needed to help the country cope with a growing economic crisis.

       The action provides the U.S. funding to groups such as the United Nations’ World Food Program, World Health Organization and International Organization for Migration, and other major international aid groups, which in turn work through organization representatives and local staff based in the country.

       The administration also is considering tapping accounts available in other programs, the officials said, such as the State Department’s $4.4 billion International Disaster Assistance fund and the $3.4 billion Migration and Refugee Assistance program.

       The senior officials said the Taliban’s treatment of the people distributing the aid—foreign workers and Afghans—will be a critical factor in how the U.S. and its allies regard the government forming in Afghanistan. U.S. officials repeatedly have cast doubt on the likelihood of formal U.S. recognition.

       “Consistent with our sanctions on the Taliban, the aid will flow through independent organizations," a USAID spokeswoman said. “And we expect that those efforts will not be impeded by the Taliban or anyone else."

       A Taliban spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

       The State Department declined to specify what programs were disrupted or provide line-item details of new spending. Officials say they are still reviewing the agency budget for potential funding.

       The State Department had been spending $500 million to $1 billion a year to fund a range of development projects in Afghanistan, including roads, power lines, healthcare and education programs, according to government contracting data. Much of it was linked to the Central Asian nation’s government, such as the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund. The World Bank, which administers the fund for the Afghan government, shut off access to the Taliban after it took power.

       There are currently no plans for direct aid to the country or through the government, U.S. officials said, given terror sanctions in effect against the Taliban.

       But to help restart humanitarian aid flows, the U.S. Treasury Department last Wednesday issued a special waiver for government aid programs. It also told aid groups and the banks handling their transactions the department is taking a nonenforcement posture.

       Those actions paved the way for USAID to redirect funding to the U.N. food, health and migration programs. The U.S. also is seeking ways to help fund Covid-19 aid efforts.

       The U.N. has continued to operate in Afghanistan, though it temporarily relocated some of its staff to Kazakhstan. The world body is working to ensure the safety of the approximately 3,000 Afghan nationals it employs, Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the secretary-general, said last week.

       MINT PREMIUM See All

       Premium Will health insurance riders matter in a post-covid world?

       Premium RIL prepares a $5.7 billion bid for？a telco in the Netherlands

       Premium Cairn fires fresh salvo at Air India in the US

       Premium How emerging economies bear the burden of the dollar hegemony

       With the completion of the U.S. and allied military withdrawal, the West has turned to economic statecraft—especially aid, sanctions and control over foreign financing—as its primary leverage over a Taliban-controlled country, top U.S. and allied officials say. The U.S. and its allies are leveraging sanctions against the Taliban and foreign financing needed to avert economic collapse.

       But current and former U.S. officials say they are concerned about possible Taliban abuse of aid workers who travel to Afghanistan, along with the remaining Americans and thousands of Afghans seeking to flee Taliban rule.

       About $10 billion in Afghan reserves are frozen in overseas accounts administered by Western governments, which also wield economic sanctions and control a multibillion-dollar spigot of annual financial assistance that previously provided more than half of the country’s budget.

       Talks are under way at the U.N. and within the Biden administration over how broadly existing sanctions should be applied now that the U.S.-designated terror group has taken control of the country. Their eventual decisions will determine whether Afghanistan will remain cut off from international financing and aid that its ailing economy needs, those officials say.

       “We know that the Taliban want to see the lifting of some of the sanctions on Afghanistan, and that will be an important consideration," Barbara Woodward, U.K. ambassador to the U.N. said this week. “The flip side of that is, of course, the Security Council could consider further sanctions."

       Existing U.N. sanctions target scores of Taliban officials under antiterror authorities, but diplomats say they could expand the blacklist to include the government, the financial system and other sectors of the economy under Taliban control. Similarly, the U.S. is considering whether to apply its terror sanctions against the group more broadly. Both actions could make permanent the financial, economic and political isolation imposed by the international community.

       Rather than trying to induce better Taliban behavior, the Biden administration should be preparing for “a de facto hostage situation," said Richard Goldberg, a former senior security official in the Trump administration now at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

       The U.S. and its allies are demanding the Taliban give safe passage out of the country for those leaving, attention to humanitarian and human rights issues, counterterrorism commitments and that the country’s new governance includes other political groups.

       Taliban leaders have invited Western engagement and vowed a more tolerant approach to running the country, but there already have been signs that have confirmed Western fears, including restricting the departure of expatriates and locals seeking to flee the country.

       Easing sanctions or providing aid could be seen as bowing to Taliban pressure. But expanding U.N. and U.S. sanctions could inflame the country’s economic woes and deepen its humanitarian crisis, Western officials say.

       “This stage is a very, very delicate negotiation period," said Justine Walker, a former sanctions chief in the U.K. Treasury who is now a top official at the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists.

       “Will the international organizations be able to operate in a manner in which they are not targeted by the Taliban? That is going to be a very important part of the short term negotiations," Ms. Walker said.

       Subscribe to Mint Newsletters

       * Enter a valid email

       * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter.

       Never miss a story! Stay connected and informed with Mint. Download our App Now!!