A bank bailout for Afghanistan?

A run on Kabul Bank — the nation's largest — is triggering fears of an Afghan financial meltdown. Should the U.S. step in?

A collapse at Kabul Bank could trigger a meltdown of Afghanistan's financial system.
(Image credit: Getty)

Panicked customers are pulling money out of Afghanistan's largest bank as rumors spread of its possible insolvency. Now, Kabul Bank's executives and investors are calling for a U.S. bailout to prevent a full scale run on the financial institution. American and Afghan officials are worried that a collapse at the bank, which allegedly blew a fortune on bad investments, could trigger a meltdown of the country's financial system that would overwhelm the government and aid the Taliban. Should Washington step in and bail out the bank?

Sadly, we may have no choice: We must act now, says Amy Davidson at The New Yorker, to prevent our war in Afghanistan from being "compromised by a bank." Letting Kabul Bank collapse would leave Afghan police and soldiers without pay, provoke civil unrest, and undermine our efforts to win hearts and minds against the Taliban. With so much at stake, American taxpayers may "end up bailing this bank out" whether they like it or not.

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