(DAB, ; ) is the

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, national bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the monetary policy of a country or monetary union. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the mo ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. It regulates all

banking A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

and monetary transactions in Afghanistan. Established in 1939, the bank is wholly government-owned. It is active in developing policies to promote financial inclusion and a member of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion. Da Afghanistan Bank currently has around 52 branches throughout the country, with seven of these in

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

, where its headquarters is also based. As of August 2024, individual bank customers cannot withdraw more than 150,000 afghanis ($2,000) a week. Under the Taliban taxes are paid directly to the central bank, and there is a policy against tax officials directly handling tax money.

Seal of the bank

The seal of Da Afghanistan Bank has the name of the bank in

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

at the top and

Latin script The Latin script, also known as the Roman script, is a writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae in Magna Graecia. The Gree ...

at the bottom, the year 1939 in which it was established, and a depiction of a Eucratides I-era coin with the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

text, "" which means "Of the great king Eucratides".

Mission

Basic tasks of DAB are: * Formulate, adopt and execute the

monetary policy Monetary policy is the policy adopted by the monetary authority of a nation to affect monetary and other financial conditions to accomplish broader objectives like high employment and price stability (normally interpreted as a low and stable rat ...

of Afghanistan. * Hold and manage the official

foreign-exchange reserves Foreign exchange reserves (also called forex reserves or FX reserves) are cash and other reserve assets such as gold and silver held by a central bank or other monetary authority that are primarily available to balance payments of the country, ...

of Afghanistan. * Print and issue afghani banknotes and coins. * Act as banker and adviser to, and as fiscal agent of the state. * License, regulate and supervise banks, foreign exchange dealers, money service providers, payment system operators, securities service providers, securities transfer system operators. * Establish, maintain and promote sound and efficient systems for payments, for transfers of securities issued by the state or DAB, and for the clearing and settlement of payment transactions and transactions in such securities. * Accept foreign bank applications from banks that wish to operate in Afghanistan.

Chief of the bank

* Habibullah Malie Achekzai, 1954–1960 * Abdul Hay Azizi, 1960–1975 * Mohammad Hakim Khan, 1975–1980 * Ghulam Hussain Jujeni, 1980–1982 * Mehrabuddin Paktiawal, 1982–1985 * Abdul Basir Ranjbar, 1985–1988 * Mohammad Kabir, 1988–1990 * Khalil Sediq, 1990–1991 * Abdul Wahab Asefi, ?–1991–? * Najibullah Sahu, ?–1992–? * Zabihullah Eltezam, ?–1993 * Ghulam Mohammed Yailaqi, 1993 * Mohammad Hakim Khan, 1993–1995 * Ehsanullah Ehsan, during Taliban era, 1996–1997 * Abdul Samad Sani, during Taliban era, 1997–? * Mohammad Ahmadi, during Taliban era, ?–2001 * Anwar ul-Haq Ahady, 2002–2004 * Noorullah Delwari, 2004–2007 * Abdul Qadir Fitrat, 2007–2011 * Noorullah Delwari, 2011– 14 January 2015
/ref> * Khan Afzal Hadawal, acting, 14 January – 8 July 2015 * Khalil Sediq, 8 July 2015 – 2019 * Wahidullah Nosher, acting, 2019–2019 * Ajmal Ahmady, acting, 2019 – August 2021 * Haji Mohammad Idris, acting, August 2021 – October 2021 * Shakir Jalali, acting, October 2021 – March 2023 * Hidayatullah Badri, acting, March 2023 – July 2024 * Noor Ahmad Agha, acting, July 2024 – present

Members of the Supreme Council

In July 2021, the Supreme Council at DAB consisted of: * Ajmal Ahmady * Dr. Shah Mohammad Mehrabi * Katrin Fakiri * Abdul Wakil Muntazer * Muhammad Naim Azimi The Supreme Council is currently unknown due to the collapse of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in August 2021.

Seizure of US-based assets

DAB owned about US$7 billion in assets held at the

Federal Reserve Bank of New York The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is one of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks of the United States. It is responsible for the Second District of the Federal Reserve System, which encompasses the New York (state), State of New York, the 12 norther ...

. After the 2021 Taliban seizure of power, a group of about 150 relatives of victims of the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

attempted to use a judgement from the SDNY case ''Havlish v. Bin Laden'' to gain control of these assets, asserting that they were now legally the Taliban's and thus could be used to pay damages to 9/11 victims' families. After a period of deliberation, the

Biden administration Joe Biden's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 46th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Joe Biden, his inauguration on January 20, 2021, and ended on January 20, 2025. Biden, a member of the Democr ...

went along with the request, dividing the assets into two halves, one of which would be allocated to the plaintiffs as potential damages, and the other which would be used to set up a trust fund to "support the needs of the Afghan people" but which the Taliban government would remain barred from accessing. On 26 August 2022, a judge recommended to not award damages as the bank is "immune from jurisdiction" and that it would "acknowledge" the Taliban as the legitimate Afghan government. On 21 February 2023, the request of the relatives was denied, with Judge George Daniels stating that he was "constitutionally restrained" from allowing access to the funds.

References

External links

Official website
* {{Authority control

Banks of Afghanistan Banks established in 1939

1939 establishments in Afghanistan Regulation in Afghanistan