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This was an important project: the Afghan economy runs on cash, and only 10 to 15% of citizens have a bank account. The APS was designed to help Afghanistan become less dependent on cash, make economic transactions safer and more efficient, and bring a real banking system to more people. And according to Khademi, he moved quickly before the US pulled out its troops and took over the Taliban.

However, now that chaos continues to unfold in Afghanistan, the project is stalled and money is running out before any viable alternatives are offered.

But another outcome was within reach, Khademi says: Afghanistan may only be a year or two away from a 21st century digital banking infrastructure that could cope even if cash disappeared. According to him, his team was “very dedicated and hardworking,” regularly working up to 17 hours a day to support rapid growth. They were “so passionate about the economy that they stood on their own.”

“We hoped our efforts would pay off,” he says through tears. “It seemed like everything was in vain, everything we did. It looks like a dream, but now it will never come true. “

Frozen assets

The money crisis is not an accident. Most of the assets of the previous Afghan government were held in offshore accounts, which have since been frozen to prevent Taliban access. according to the former head of the Central Bank Ajmal Ahmadi… And the US decided to prevent the Taliban – which is on the Treasury’s sanctions list – from seizing other funds by freezing the Afghan government’s cash reserves and suspending planned cash transfers. Many Afghans have expected this situation for weeks with long queues at banks as citizens, worried about the future, siphoned cash out of them.

ATM activity was off the charts. “Friends [who work in banks] said that where they used to make hundreds of transactions a day, they made thousands, ”says Ruchi Kumar, a journalist and employee at MIT Technology Review, who worked in Kabul for eight years but recently left the country.

The problems caused by the lack of funds are piling up. The US dollar is getting smaller, the value of Afghan money is falling sharply, and, according to Khademi, the prices of basic commodities are skyrocketing. Cash remains in circulation – there is a significant informal banking system in Afghanistan operated by local currency traders without a license. Sources say they are still up and running, but without banking, the money supply will soon dry up.

Some outsiders are trying to fill the gap by running online fundraising campaigns, while others even speculate that cryptocurrency may go into the void.

But getting money into the country from outside has become more difficult. Western Union, the world’s largest money transfer company, has suspended services in Afghanistan, and NBC reports that MoneyGram has also stopped operations there. Meanwhile, some overseas crowdfunding sites, such as GoFundMe, have been accused of “insincere” behavior after blocking some fundraising efforts for the country while allowing others to continue.

“I didn’t think this day would come”

While digital alternatives have largely failed to fill the gap created by the cash crash, alternative services had some scope to help.

Kumar, a journalist, says vulnerable Afghans are using services like WasalPay – an online utility bill payment system – to fund their phone loans.

She uses it to send money that people in distress can use to stay connected. Its network includes journalists, activists and human rights defenders; they can use WasalPay to access funds from outside the country, be it individual donations and contributions, or from larger sources such as the International Foundation for Women’s Media.