Thread by @JJSchroden

Today the @StateDept held a presser and there were questions about today's announcement of the "#Afghanistan Fund." I'll string those together in this THREAD. 1/n

@StateDept (The link to the full presser is here: state.gov/briefings/depa…)

And here's a link to the announcement: home.treasury.gov/news/press-rel… 2/n

@StateDept Q: When is the soonest that this money could actually get to people or to organizations that could help people in #Afghanistan?

MR PRICE: The establishment of the Afghan Fund was recently finalized; it was announced publicly today early this morning... 3/n

@StateDept ...We are working with our partners, including at the Treasury and our international partners as well, to disburse these funds to the Afghan Fund as soon as possible. We’re working with great alacrity. 4/n

@StateDept Q: From the Afghan fund at the BIS, when is the soonest that any of this money might be able to actually make its way to help the people of —

MR PRICE: So there are a couple steps that would need to take place before that... 5/n

@StateDept ...One, we need to disburse the funds that are currently located in the United States to the Afghan Fund that’s based in Switzerland. That will take a little bit of time. We’re, of course, working as quickly as we can to do that... 6/n

@StateDept ...But the other key point is that the Afghan Fund is explicitly not intended to make humanitarian disbursements. The Afghan Fund itself is to facilitate macroeconomic stability inside #Afghanistan. So we will remain the largest humanitarian donor for the Afghan people... 7/n

@StateDept ...As I said before, we’ve already provided over $814 million. We’ve worked with international partners to facilitate the provision of over $1 billion, additional dollars, to the Afghan people. This is not what that fund is for... 8/n

@StateDept ...This fund is to provide macroeconomic stability in #Afghanistan that will enhance the effectiveness of humanitarian assistance from the United States and other donors. 9/n

@StateDept Q: But how long is it going to take for the money, the 3.5 billion, which you guys have right now, to get to the BIS? And then how long is it going to take for it to get from the BIS to any group, whoever it is, that would actually help #Afghanistan? 10/n

@StateDept MR PRICE: So the answer to your first question is as soon as possible.

Q: Well, okay, but what is that, a week?

MR PRICE: I’m —

Q: Is that a day?

MR PRICE: I’m just not in a position to put an exact timeframe on it, but as soon as possible... 11/n

@StateDept ...The answer to your second question is largely dependent on needs and what the independent – what the trustees of the Afghan Fund, working closely with the independent auditors, assess are the macroeconomic needs of #Afghanistan. 12/n

@StateDept Q: But how soon could – once this board of governors or whatever it’s called decides that something is a worthy project, how long does it take to get from the BIS to #Afghanistan? Like an hour? Less? Is it instantaneous transfer? 13/n

@StateDept MR PRICE: Well, wiring money is a pretty instantaneous process. But of course, there will be—

Q: Well, tell my banker that, but—

MR PRICE: Of course there will be deliberation on the part of the trustees to see to it that the targeted disbursements to— 14/n

@StateDept Q: No, I get it, but what’s— MR PRICE: —to a vetted list of entities is appropriate & in the macroeconomic interests of the Afghan economy.

QUESTION: You said that the President had set a policy of putting aside $3.5B, but that’s only half of the amount that is being held...15/n

@StateDept ...by you guys. And that other 3.5 billion, have the plans changed for that?

MR PRICE: That other 3.5 billion remains subject to litigation, and so we’re going to let that litigation proceed.

16/n

@StateDept Q: So they – the Afghans can’t expect to see that, whether it’s the – not the #Taliban, but whoever, the people in #Afghanistan can’t expect to ever see that?

MR PRICE: First, the additional $3.5B is subject to litigation, so it’s not on us to get ahead of that litigation. 17/n

@StateDept Q: Just for our understanding, will you guys, will this new fund be making announcement when this money is actually transferred to these economic efforts in #Afghanistan? Like, will we be able to track this as it goes? 18/n

@StateDept MR PRICE: We do have a US representative as a trustee on the Afghan Fund, but this will be a decision on the part of the Afghan Fund. We’re not in a position to–we won’t be in a position to speak for the fund, because while we will have a representative, it's its own entity. 19/n

@StateDept Q: Will the fund itself make announcements about where it’s putting this money?

MR PRICE: I'd need to defer to the fund to speak to that.

Q: Do you have a prioritization for where in the economy this money should go, or is that still up to the board to make those decisions?20/n

@StateDept MR PRICE: Well, it will be up to the board to make those decisions. These are trustees from the United States, from the Government of Switzerland – there are two independent Afghan trustees as well. They in turn will make those decisions... 21/n

@StateDept ...There is a vetted list of sources for disbursement. But just to give you a flavor for what these sorts of macroeconomic infusions could look like, for example, to make payments for critical imports like electricity, that is something that could – we could envision... 22/n

@StateDept ...the fund doing. To pay arrears at international financial institutions, the types of activities that are separate and apart from the day-to-day welfare that our humanitarian assistance and the humanitarian assistance of the international community is designed for... 23/n

@StateDept ...This has a very specific purpose that is separate from that.
Q: The – your representative for #Afghanistan, Tom West, was having talks with the #Taliban in #Uzbekistan shortly before #alQaida’s leader was killed in Kabul... 24/n

@StateDept ...Among the topics that were being discussed were the $3.5B. Can you detail any updates on any engagement with the #Taliban since then, and whether they were in any way part of any discussions after those discussions and after the death of Zawahiri about this – these funds? 25/n

@StateDept ...Or how do you foresee engagement continuing with the #Taliban?

MR PRICE: Well, these reserves have been a topic of discussion with the Taliban for months now, really going back to our earliest engagements with the Taliban. We have repeatedly made clear to them... 26/n

@StateDept ...our concerns with potentially recapitalizing the Afghan central bank absent very specific reforms. We made clear – @US4AfghanPeace and others have made clear – to the #Taliban that there are a number of steps that we would need to see before we could contemplate ... 27/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace ...a recapitalization of the Afghan central bank. For example, demonstrating its independence from political influence and interference, demonstrating it has instituted adequate anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism controls, complete a third-party..28/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace ...needs assessment, and onboard a reputable third-party monitor. Those steps have not taken place yet. We’ve made very clear to the #Taliban those are the kinds of steps that would need to occur before we could consider recapitalization. But more broadly, our engagement... 29/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace ...with the #Taliban has been predicated on U.S. interests and the interests of the Afghan people and the broader international community. And so that’s why in every engagement with them – and there, to my knowledge, has not been a senior-level engagement since the one you...30/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace ...reference, since the one a couple months ago when Tom West met with #Taliban representatives – we have emphasized the importance of human rights, the rights of all Afghans, including women and girls, minorities, religious minorities, ethnic minorities, the ability of... 31/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace ...the people of #Afghanistan to freely depart the country should they so choose. The #counterterrorism commitments that the #Taliban has subscribed to – subscribed to publicly in its public commitments, but also the counterterrorism commitments that it put forward in the... 32/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace ...U.S.-#Taliban agreement of 2020, commitments that clearly were not honored in the instance of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the now late #alQaida leader living in Kabul. And we’ve also made clear consistently the priority we attach to the safe return of Mark Frerichs... 33/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace ...We have made clear to the Taliban that there cannot be any improvement in our relationship while the Taliban continues to retain control or to have control over a U.S. citizen who remains a hostage. 34/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace Q: As you mention about #Afghanistan, still school is closed. Some primaries in Afghanistan opened and they reclosed. I don’t know how many group of #Taliban they have power and control in Afghanistan. Even a week ago, girl in Afghanistan was crying because they open... 35/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace ...two months ago; they reclosed. That’s big consideration, and Afghan people has a high expectation from the United States. They said you are superpower. Why you don’t bring pressure on the so many terrorist group in #Afghanistan? 36/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace And it’s not fair to girl, cry every day. I’m crying here. Girl in #Afghanistan – time goes fast. They lost their opportunity. Any option? And also, the second question: Panjshir Province is a bad situation. Resistance group fighting with the #Taliban... 37/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace ...and hundred people get hostage by the Taliban. I don’t know United States know about it, support resistance or not? Resistance —

MR PRICE: In many ways, Nazira, you are right. It is not fair. It is a profound injustice what the #Taliban are doing, what the Taliban... 38/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace ...have done to #Afghanistan’s women and girls. It is just a simple fact that no society can succeed, let alone thrive, if half or more of its population is systemically deprived of an education and, in turn, deprived of the opportunity that comes with secondary education... 39/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace ...That is precisely what the #Taliban has been doing. We are using the channels and the tools at our disposal to make very clear where the US stands, where the international community stands, but also what the people of #Afghanistan deserve and expect of those who purport...40/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace ...to be their leaders. Tom West, our special representative for #Afghanistan, @SE_AfghanWGH, our special envoy for the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan, they have made this point directly to the #Taliban. They spoke to the so-called foreign minister, Mr. Muttaqi... 41/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH ... in May, to make this point. Tom West in his face-to-face engagements with the #Taliban have made this very similar point. And we are using every tool at our disposal to make clear that this is unacceptable. The international community has certain sources of leverage... 42/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH ...There are things that the #Taliban wants and there are things that the Taliban has not gotten. We spoke to one of those today. The Taliban has desired a recapitalization of the Afghan central bank. The fact that the Taliban has not provided any solace or reassurance... 43/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH ...that funds would not be diverted for nefarious or otherwise malign purposes led us to the announcement that we made today, the establishment of an independent fund that puts this $3.5 billion in Afghan reserves out of reach of the #Taliban itself even as that funding is...44/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH ...will be used to support the macroeconomic stability of the Afghan people. They want sanctions relief. It’s very clear that the #Taliban want to engage in broader economic activity with the international community. They want to be able to travel freely... 45/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH ...The international community has made clear that while the #Taliban systemically deprives half or more – in some cases much more – of its population of fundamental rights, that there will be no such sanctions relief. They want better relations with the United States... 46/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH ...They want better relations with the international community. They have called for the international community to reopen diplomatic outposts, to reopen embassies in #Afghanistan. For our part, for the part of our partners and allies, we have made very clear that we are... 47/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH ...not looking at recognition. We are looking at where – in our interests, only practical engagement that we hope will push the #Taliban in the right direction & will continue to engage with them on that basis until we see improvements in those areas that we care most about. 48/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH Q: Sorry, Ned. You mentioned that – what this – you gave two examples of what this money might go to. One was electricity – paying – and the other one was paying arrears to international financial institutions.

MR PRICE: That’s right. That’s right. 49/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH Q: Obviously, electricity is something that all Afghans, not just the #Taliban, use or would want to use. But how is paying arrears to international financial institutions not benefiting the Taliban, remembering, of course, that money is fungible? 50/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH So if they’re not having to use their own money for this, they’re putting that – whatever money they have to whatever they want to go. And then secondly, what is the evidence that the #Taliban wants better relations with the United States or the West? 51/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH What is the evidence that they want to travel freely? They seem to be able to travel to Doha and then from there to go beyond. 52/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH MR PRICE: They’re able to —

Q: What’s your evidence for this?

MR PRICE: They’re able to travel to Doha only because of a travel ban exemption, a travel ban exemption that is still —

Q: Yeah. But what’s your evidence that they want to go to Australia or to Brazil? 53/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH MR PRICE: These are individuals, some of whom have lived in Doha for quite some time or spent a significant amount of time there. They have made clear that —

Q: Yeah, and they’re the ones that can afford to go to Doha. But the normal– the average Afghan person cannot fly...54/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH MR PRICE: We’re not – we’re not talking about the average Afghan person. We’re talking about senior #Taliban officials. We’re talking about the restrictions that are placed on senior Taliban officials.

QUESTION: Well, what is the evidence that they want to —
55/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH MR PRICE: Of course, we’re differentiating between the #Taliban and the Afghan people. We’re supporting the Afghan people.

QUESTION: What’s the evidence that they want to go anywhere other than New York for the UN General Assembly? 56/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH MR PRICE: They want to be able – they have made very clear in their public statements, but also in their private statements as well – they want to be seen as any other government around the world. What is very clear is that they are not any other government around the world..57/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH ...We have not recognized – that is not something that is on the table. But they want the benefits and the advantages that every other sovereign government around the world accrues. When it come to the fungibility of money, this fund is for #Afghanistan’s macroeconomic... 58/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH ...stability. #Afghanistan’s macroeconomic stability is in the interests of the people of Afghanistan. It’s in the interests of the broader region. It’s in the interests of the international community. What is important is that the #Taliban does not have access to... 59/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH ...these funds. The #Taliban will not be able to pull the levers of these funds, to direct these funds to specific entities.

Q: But look, the whole idea – you started off by saying you’re going to address the question of fungibility. The point is that they don’t need... 60/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH ...access to these funds directly. If you’re going to pay their debts to the IMF & the World Bank and whoever else, then they don’t—

MR PRICE: These—

QUESTION: It never–they don’t ever need to touch it.

MR PRICE: These are debts—

QUESTION: But they still benefit from it.61/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH MR PRICE: These are debts – electricity payments, arrears – that would otherwise go unpaid and that would plunge #Afghanistan into even greater levels of macroeconomic instability. That would not benefit the people of Afghanistan. Ultimately —

QUESTION: But isn’t —

62/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH MR PRICE: Ultimately – ultimately, we’re doing what is in the best interests of the people of #Afghanistan, putting in place the safeguards to see to it and the auditing structures to see to it that these funds are used as they were intended. 63/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH Q: According to some congressional sources, the State Department has told Congress that there are more than 120,000 Afghan SIV applicants who are still in #Afghanistan and that approximately 11,000 of them have chief-of-mission approval... 64/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH ...Can you just bring us up to date as to – I mean, you say you’re supporting the Afghan people, but clearly these are Afghans who want to leave the country. So what is the status of those flights out of the country right now for those folks? 65/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH MR PRICE: Sure. So let me just give you an update. As you know, revamping and revitalizing the SIV program was an early priority of this administration. When we took office in January of 2021, there had not been a single interview, SIV interview, conducted in Kabul... 66/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH ...since March of the previous year – nearly a year without interviews. Some of that was as the result of COVID; some of that was the result of what appears to have been, unfortunately, intentional neglect of a program that would bring and that has brought thousands... 67/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH ...of our partners who have helped the U.S. military and the U.S. Government over the course of 20 years to the United States and to safety. As a result of the steps we’ve taken internally as a result of the coordination that we’ve done with the other departments and... 68/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH ...agencies that have a role in this program, we have significantly shortened the processing time. We have taken that processing time and, by some estimates, reduced it by about one-tenth. We have shaved months and months off the time it takes to process an individual... 69/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH ...through the chief-of-mission stage. As of essentially August 1st, in part because of some of these steps that we’ve taken, we’ve issued approximately 15,000 SIVs to principal applicants and their eligible family members since the start of the Biden administration... 70/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH ...Now, when it comes to the current backlog, as of August of this year there were approximately 17,000 principal applicants who have submitted all of the documents that are required for chief-of-mission approval. These applicants are either being reviewed for... 71/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH ...chief-of-mission approval or have received chief-of-mission approval and are awaiting further processing steps. These figures are published regularly on our website, quarterly, when it comes to the backlog. Now, there are larger numbers out there. Some of those numbers... 72/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH ...are woefully inaccurate and just wrong. There are – there is a larger universe of Afghans who may wish to apply for this program, of Afghans who have completed one or more of the steps to – towards that chief-of-mission approval. But the number of Afghans who have... 73/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH ...submitted all of the documents required for this stage is 17,000.

Q: And how many flights are going out a week?

MR PRICE: Flights are going out regularly. These are flights that we have maintained since shortly after the U.S. military withdrawal from Kabul... 74/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH ... late last year that over the course of nearly a year now, or just about a year, have taken more than 800 Americans, U.S. citizens; if I recall, more than 600 lawful permanent residents; but also thousands upon thousands of our Afghan allies on these flights as well. 75/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH Q: And just to be clear, when you say 17,000 principal applicants —

MR PRICE: That’s right.

Q: — that means an applicant, but it doesn’t include their family members who may be applying with them? Is that right?

76/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH MR PRICE: Well, under the law, as it was drafted by Congress, there are certain family members, close family members, who are eligible for the SIV program when there’s a principal applicant. So yes, those are principal applicants. 77/n

@StateDept @US4AfghanPeace @SE_AfghanWGH QUESTION: Yeah, right. Thank you.

QUESTION: And the 17 doesn’t include the 15 that were already granted, right?

MR PRICE: That’s correct, yeah, that’s correct. END. 78/78