Treasury Issues Three General Licenses Relating to Afghan Aid

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Jan. 3, 2022

 On December 22, 2021, the US Department of the Treasury issued three new General Licenses (GLs) relating to the provision of humanitarian assistance and support for Afghanistan and the Afghan people. As highlighted by an accompanying fact sheet titled “Provision of Humanitarian Assistance to Afghanistan and Support for the Afghan People,” OFAC is emphasizing that US sanctions targeting the Taliban and the Haqqani Network are not intended to stand in the way of assistance for or personal remittances to Afghanistan.

The three new GLs were issued alongside a December 22, 2021, decision by the United Nations Security Council to adopt a sanctions carve-out related to the provision of aid to Afghanistan. According to Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo, the new GLs represent “broad authorization” to ensure aid can continue to flow to the country. Although each contains various limitations and restrictions, the three new GLs can be broadly summarized as follows:

• General License 17 authorizes various transactions and activities involving the Taliban and/or the Haqqani Network that involve official business of the US Government by employees, grantees, or contractors.

• General License 18 authorizes various transactions and activities involving the Taliban and/or the Haqqani Network that relate to the conduct or official business of certain international organizations and other international entities including the United Nations, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross, Red Crescent Societies, and various banks.

• General License 19 authorizes “ordinarily incident and necessary” transactions and activities involving the Taliban and/or the Haqqani Network conducted by nongovernmental organizations, when such transactions and activities support basic human needs, the rule of law, citizen participation, government accountability and transparency, education, non-commercial development projects directly benefitting the Afghan people, and environmental and natural resource protection.

In light of these new GLs it is important to note that Afghanistan as a whole is not subject to comprehensive Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions, as is the case with a destination such as Iran. Provided that an activity does not involve sanctioned individuals, entities, or property, as identified on the OFAC Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List, no broad OFAC sanctions apply to the export or reexport of goods or services to Afghanistan, nor the transferring or sending of money into and out of Afghanistan. With this in mind, employing a thorough and effective restricted party screening process represents the best method of ensuring that any given transaction does not involve any individual, entity, or property captured by the OFAC SDN list.

If you have questions relating to OFAC sanctions or restricted party screening best practices do not hesitate to contact an attorney at Barnes, Richardson & Colburn LLP.