Unclear How Strictly US Will Enforce Sanctions Against Taliban, Former Treasury Official Says
It remains unclear how strictly the U.S. will enforce sanctions against the Taliban to try to cut the group off from the U.S. financial system as it overtakes Afghanistan, Brian O’Toole, a former Treasury Department sanctions official, told NPR’s Marketplace…
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Aug. 17. “If the Taliban come in and are, quote-unquote, kind of reasonable upfront -- they’re not stoning people in soccer stadiums right away kind of thing -- you could see a scenario in which the U.S. is not as interested in enforcing sanctions,” said O’Toole, a sanctions expert at the Atlantic Council. He said the U.S. may be waiting to first see how the Taliban operates. More concerning actions, including human rights abuses, could lead to strict enforcement of U.S. sanctions. The White House has declined to answer specific questions about how it will impose sanctions against Afghanistan and the Taliban, but National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said sanctions are being considered (see 2108170075).