The economy of Afghanistan has steadily improved in the last decade due to the return of a large number of wealthy expats, the modernization of the nation's agriculture sector, and the establishment of more trade routes with neighboring and regional countries. The billions of dollars in international assistance that came from expats and outside investors saw this increase when there was more political reliability after NATO became involved in Afghanistan's reconstruction. The nation's GDP (PPP) stands these days at about $70 billion with an exchange rate of $20 billion (2017), and the GDP per capita (PPP) is about $2,000. It imports over $6 billion worth of goods but exports about $1 billion worth of legal products, mainly fruits and nuts.
The afghani is the currency of Afghanistan, which traditionally is issued by the nation's central bank called Da Afghanistan Bank. It is nominally subdivided into 100 puls (پول), although there are no pul coins currently in circulation. In September 2021, one U.S. dollar was exchanged for approximately 88 afghanis. The afghani is also informally referred to as rūpa.
Da Afghanistan Bank is the central bank of Afghanistan. It regulates all banking and money handling operations in Afghanistan. The bank currently has 46 branches throughout the country, with five of these situated in Kabul, where the headquarters is also based.
Afghanistan and the United States have had no formal diplomatic relations since March 16, 2022. The U.S. Interests Section at the Embassy of Qatar in Kabul serves as the protecting power in Afghanistan for the United States, while Afghanistan has no protecting power in the U.S. Relations between Afghanistan and the United States were first established in 1921 under the leaderships of Amanullah Khan and Warren G. Harding, respectively. The first contact between the two nations occurred further back in the 1830s when the first recorded person from the United States explored Afghanistan. The United States began investing some money in landlocked Afghanistan, which ended before the 1978 Saur Revolution. Beginning in 1980, the United States began admitting thousands of Afghan refugees for resettlement, and provided money and weapons to the Mujahideen through Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
The foreign exchange reserves of China are the state of foreign exchange reserves held by the People's Republic of China, comprising cash, bank deposits, bonds, and other financial assets denominated in currencies other than China's national currency. In July 2020, China's foreign exchange reserves totaled US$3.15 trillion, which is the highest foreign exchange reserves of any country.
The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) is a program of the United States government to purchase toxic assets and equity from financial institutions to strengthen its financial sector that was passed by Congress and signed into law by President George Bush. It was a component of the government's measures in 2009 to address the subprime mortgage crisis.
Promsvyazbank is a state-backed, formerly private Russian bank from Moscow. It was owned by oligarchs Dmitry Ananyev and his brother Alexei Ananyev. As of 2012, it was the 10th largest bank in Russia by assets.
The history of the United States from 2008 to the present began with the collapse of the housing bubble, which led to the Great Recession, and helped the Democrats win the presidency in 2008 with the election of Barack Obama, the country's first African-American president. The government issued large loans and enacted economic stimulus packages that aimed to improve the economy. Obama's domestic initiatives also included the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which by means of large reforms to the American healthcare system, created a National Health Insurance program. Obama eventually withdrew combat troops from Iraq, and shifted the country's efforts in the War on Terror to Afghanistan, where a troop surge was initiated in 2009. In 2010, due to continued public discontent with the economic situation, unemployment, and federal spending, Republicans regained control of the House of Representatives and reduced the Democratic majority in the Senate. In 2011, Obama announced that al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces during a covert operation in Pakistan while the Iraq War was declared formally over the same year. The following year Obama was re-elected president. In June 2013, the Supreme Court struck down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, which resulted in the recognition of legally performed same-sex marriages by the federal government. In 2015, the Court ruled that all states must grant same-sex marriages as well as recognize others performed in different states in Obergefell v. Hodges.
Sanctions against the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan were implemented by the United Nations in November 1999. The sanctions were aimed at terrorists, Osama Bin Laden and members of Al-Qaeda.
Joe Biden's tenure as the 46th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20, 2021. Biden, a Democrat from Delaware who previously served as vice president under Barack Obama, took office following his victory in the 2020 presidential election over Republican incumbent president Donald Trump. He was inaugurated alongside Kamala Harris, the first woman, first African American, and first Asian American vice president. Biden entered office amid the COVID-19 pandemic, an economic crisis, and increased political polarization.
The foreign policy of the Joe Biden administration emphasizes repairing the U.S.'s alliances, which Biden says had been damaged under the Trump administration, and returning the U.S. to a "position of trusted leadership" among world democracies to counter challenges from Russia and China. As president, Biden has sought to strengthen the transatlantic alliance between the U.S. and Europe, and he recommitted the U.S. to the NATO alliance and collective security. Biden returned the U.S. to the Paris Climate Agreement and has taken other steps to combat climate change. His administration emphasizes international cooperation to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as U.S. defenses against foreign-sponsored cyberattacks and cyberespionage.
Ajmal Ahmady is an Afghan-American economist and politician who formerly served as the Acting Governor of the Central Bank of Afghanistan, Da Afghanistan Bank, the Acting Minister of Commerce and Industry of Afghanistan, the Senior Economic Advisor to the President of Afghanistan, and represented Afghanistan on the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) natural gas pipeline.
The United States Armed Forces completed their withdrawal from Afghanistan on 30 August 2021, marking the end of the 20-year long war in Afghanistan. In February 2020, the Trump administration and the Taliban, without participation by the Afghan government, signed the Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan, also known as the Doha Agreement, which provided for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Afghanistan in return for a Taliban pledge to prevent al-Qaeda from operating in areas under Taliban control, and future talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government for a permanent ceasefire.
Afghan frozen assets are assets that were frozen in the United States and around the world following the 2021 Fall of Kabul and the subsequent collapse of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan by the Taliban. The Afghan frozen assets are the second-largest amount of financial money from a country that was seized by the US since the Iranian frozen assets from 1980.
The following is a timeline of the presidency of Joe Biden during the first quarter of 2022, from January 1 to March 31, 2022. To navigate between quarters, see timeline of the Joe Biden presidency.
Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the United States, the European Union, and other countries, introduced or significantly expanded sanctions to include Vladimir Putin and other government members, and cut off "selected Russian banks" from SWIFT, triggering the 2022 Russian financial crisis and massive international boycott of Russia and Belarus.
The United States's stance on the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine has been in favor of Ukraine, with the country condemning the invasion, providing humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine, and sanctioning Russia and Belarus, the countries heavily involved in invading Ukraine.
