Taliban Bans Online Trade of Foreign Exchange, Calls It ‘Illegal’

The Afghanistan Central Bank, controlled by the Taliban, banned online trade of foreign exchange in the country and declared it “illegal”. Saber Mohmand, the Central Bank’s spokesperson warned that violators will face prosecution.

“There is no instruction in the Islamic law to approve it”, he told Bloomberg.

Since Taliban’s takeover in August 2021, the collapsing economy in the country has forced Afghans to use Forex (Foreign Exchange Market) or digital currencies, in other to keep their money out of Taliban’s access.

Even though, there is no information about the number of active users of Forex in Afghanistan, Mohmand said that “millions of dollars” are being traded mainly in Sara-e-Shahzada, the biggest exchange market in the capital of Afghanistan. The order comes as the Taliban is trying to reintegrate Afghanistan’s devastated economy.

Lack of recognition of this regime has caused loss of international assistance in Afghanistan which had accounted for over 40 percent of Afghanistan’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) previously.