Taliban seize $12.3 million in cash and gold from former officials, return it to national bank

• Taliban seize $12.3 million in cash and gold from the houses and offices of former Afghan administration and security officials.
• Seized valuables have been handed over by the Taliban officials to Da Afghanistan Bank which is the country’s central bank.
• According to the bank’s statement, handing over the assets proves the Taliban’s commitment to transparency.

Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB), the country’s central bank, issued a statement today announcing that the Taliban had handed over about 12.3 million U.S. dollars cash and some gold to the the bank officials.

The cash and gold bars have been recovered by the Taliban from the houses of former Afghan administration’s officials and local offices of former government’s intelligence agency and have been returned to Da Afghanistan Bank’s treasury, the bank said in a statement.

“The officials of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan by handing over the assets to national treasury proved their commitment to transparency,” Da Afghanistan Bank‘s statement said.

After taking over the capital Kabul on August 15, the Taliban announced the formation of a caretaker government on September 7, appointing several acting ministers and an acting governor to the Afghan central bank.

Da Afghanistan Bank is the central bank of Afghanistan. It regulates all banking and money handling operations in Afghanistan. The bank currently has 46 branches throughout the country, with five of these situated in Kabul, where the bank’s headquarters is also based.

The Taliban have seized power in Afghanistan two weeks before the U.S. was set to complete its troop withdrawal after a costly two-decade war.

The insurgents stormed across the country, capturing all major cities in a matter of days, as Afghan security forces trained and equipped by the U.S. and its allies melted away.

Former Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani hunkered down and made few public statements as the Taliban swept across the country. As the Taliban reached the capital city of Kabul, Ghani fled Afghanistan, allegedly with $169 million in looted cash, claiming he had chosen to leave the country to avoid further bloodshed.

The Taliban have sought to present themselves as a more moderate force in recent years. Since taking over, they have promised to respect women’s rights, forgive those who fought against them and prevent Afghanistan from being used as a base for terror attacks. But many Afghans are skeptical of those promises.