WASHINGTON: The Taliban will be denied access to any Afghan reserves held in US accounts, a US administration official said on Monday.

As US forces were evacuating Afghanistan’s capital after the Taliban’s swift takeover, the official said: “Any Central Bank assets the Afghan government have in the United States will not be made available to the Taliban.” The central bank’s gross reserves totaled $9.4 billion at the end of April, according to the IMF.

But most of those funds are held outside of Afghanistan, according to a person familiar with the matter. It was not immediately clear what share of the assets are held in the United States.

The country’s central bank governor Ajmal Ahmady went to Twitter to detail his harrowing escape from the country on a military plane on Sunday, after he and his team tried to stabilize the currency amid the Taliban advance towards the capital.

Ahmady, who did not say where he was, said the central bank was informed on Friday that “given the deteriorating environment, we wouldn’t get any more dollar shipments,” and he met on Saturday with banks and money exchangers to reassure them.

“Once (the) president’s departure was announced, I knew within minutes chaos would follow. I cannot forgive him for creating that without a transition plan,” he tweeted Monday.

“It did not have to end this way. I am disgusted by the lack of any planning by Afghan leadership. Saw at airport them leave without informing others.”

Health-risk allowance to be paid to 12,000 govt employees: Dr Faisal Sultan   (health)

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Faisal Sultan on Monday assured a parliamentary committee that the health-risk allowance will be paid to 12,000 government employees in the federal capital next week.

He stated this while briefing the National Assembly Standing Committee on National Health Services (NHS) at a meeting chaired by MNA Khalid Hussain Magsi.

Dr Sultan said a list of the 12,000 employees had been forwarded to the Finance Division but due to some objections it was returned.

He assured the committee that next week the allowance would be paid to all the 12,000 employees.

Grand Health Alliance Islamabad Chairman Dr Asfandyar Khan told Dawn that the ministry of NHS had moved a summary to the Finance Division to pay the health-risk allowance to clinical and non-clinical employees of the health facilities.

The Finance Division was of the view that the allowance should be given to the healthcare workers who directly dealt with the Covid patients and non-clinical employees working in kitchens, accounts and administration should not get it, he said.

He said according to the ministry, five basic paywould be given to the clinical employees and only one basic pay to the non-clinical staff.

“We are thankful to Dr Sultan and the secretary health for taking personal interest and assuring us that the health-risk allowance worth Rs2 billion would be paid to the employees. We have suggested that during the current financial year the allowance should be paid every month,” he said.

Meanwhile, the standing committee unanimously passed ‘The Islamabad Healthcare Regulations (Amendment) Bill 2021’ moved by MNA Dr Mahreen Razzaq Bhutto.

The bill suggests that the healthcare authority should take steps to prevent persons from fraudulently practicing the healthcare profession.

It would also make anti-quackery cells or teams to take actions against small hospitals, clinics operating in the suburbs of cities.