The financial scandal that broke Afghanistan’s Kabul Bank

There’s an excellent piece in The Guardian by Jon Boone about the Kabul bank saga that’s a good read for many reasons, not least this description of “the man accused of rivalling only the Taliban in terms of the damage he has done to Afghanistan”:

Khalilullah Ferozi, supposedly under house arrest, settles into a seat and orders a shisha and several plates of rice and kebab. On his wrist sits a diamond-studded watch. As he talks, getting animated, a steady spray of half-masticated kebab flies across the table.

Reuters is now reporting that the IMF has rejected the Afghan government’s plans to deal with Kabul Bank and is withholding $70 million, a figure that could soon be dwarfed by the billions in aid that donors will be legally obliged to spend elsewhere if the government can’t get the Kabul Bank crisis under control.