Key aid group says Afghanistan’s most pressing need is cash

Afghanistan is facing a looming humanitarian crisis as aid organizations struggle with ways to pay doctors, nurses and others on the ground because there is currently no way to transfer salaries to bank accounts there, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross said.

“The main problem in Afghanistan is not hunger. The main problem is the lack of cash to pay salaries to deliver social services which have existed before,” ICRC President Peter Maurer told The Associated Press

The Taliban leadership, which recently banned all foreign currency transactions, has urged the U.S. Congress to ease sanctions and release Afghanistan’s overseas assets in order for the government to be able to pay teachers, doctors and other public sector employees.

Maurer said the country could slide into a hunger crisis if drought impacts food production and if the disruption of the economy continues, but he stressed the immediate crisis facing Afghanistan remains paying salaries to keep basic services functioning.