Biden’s handlers have no plan to prevent Taliban from seizing $18,000,000 in cash from Afghanistan’s central bank

“Rep. Gallagher: ‘It’s up to Congress to make sure the Taliban does not walk away with a windfall,'” by Adam Kredo, Washington Free Beacon, August 20, 2021:

Republican foreign policy leaders in Congress say the Biden administration is in no place to secure Afghanistan’s fortune given its disorganized evacuation of Americans from the country, which is still taking place. They say the administration had no contingency plans in place and failed to anticipate the Taliban’s quick return to power.

Rep. Mike Gallagher (R., Wis.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said it is Congress’s responsibility to make sure the Taliban does not become wealthy as a result of its government takeover.

“While I am glad the administration has indicated it will not allow the Taliban to gain access to Afghan reserves held in the United States, it’s up to Congress to make sure the Taliban does not walk away with a windfall,” Gallagher told the Free Beacon. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) “must immediately reconvene Congress for an emergency session so we can do so.”

The United States froze cash shipments to Afghanistan during the weekend, when the Taliban marched into Kabul and retook control of the country. Some in the Biden administration, however, have floated plans to unfreeze Afghanistan’s cash reserves or offer the Taliban foreign aid if it agrees to spare the embattled U.S. embassy compound in Kabul, according to one source with knowledge of the ongoing deliberations. The administration could also be forced to repatriate a portion of these funds as part of future negotiations with the Taliban that are certain to take place in the coming weeks and months.

Still, the Taliban is doing all it can to get its hand on any money still stashed inside the country, and its leaders are “asking [central bank] officials about the location of assets,” according to Ajmal Ahmady, the bank’s most recent governor, who fled the country as the Taliban marched into Kabul….