The category of “illegal financial assets” includes funds obtained as a result of money
laundering, tax evasion and customs duties, corruption and bribery 11 . Despite the development
of the state banking system, approximately 90% of all transactions pass through the unofficial
hawala system. The vast majority of hawaladars work without licenses and therefore it is
extremely difficult to track who is the real owner and recipient of the transferred money. The
phenomenon of corruption itself is deeply rooted in Afghan society. In the latest annual
Corruption Perceptions Index, compiled by Transparency International based on an analysis of
the situation in 180 countries, Afghanistan ranked 4th in the list of the most corrupt countries,
second only to Syria, South Sudan and Somalia 12 .
A similar psychological model has emerged and
taken root in the public consciousness over the past
decade and a half, and it is completely unclear how
the US-Kabul bundle can replace it with a more
positive model.
The narrowing of the conceptual possibilities of
the US-Kabul bundle is also observed with regard to
the group of military-political challenges. In the period
from 2002 to 2014, the United States spent $ 640
billion on the maintenance of the 90-thousand
American group of troops in the ISAF and 30 thousand soldiers who are not in the ISAF 13 . It also
spent $ 55 billion on the creation of the Afghan army. However, despite all these enormous costs,
the situation has steadily deteriorated since 2005 due to the resurgence of the Taliban. The first
attempt to stop the Taliban’s resurgence was the decision of President Barack Obama to send
an additional 47,000 soldiers to Afghanistan in 2009 to turn the tide in their favor. But this
attempt did not lead to desired results, and the Taliban continued to increase their activity. As
experts predicted, the withdrawal of American troops in 2014 was the trigger for a sharp increase
in the intensity of hostilities, and with the gradual interception of the initiative by the Taliban.
The D.Trump administration also attempted to stop the Taliban by relying on pressure. In
2017, the total number of the American contingent was increased from 8 to 16 thousand
bayonets. Air strikes were intensified. At the turning point of the situation, the US Congress
allocated $ 45 billion, of which $ 13 billion was intended for the maintenance of the American
contingent, $ 5 billion for the Afghan security forces 14 . The remaining funds went to the provision
of economic assistance to Afghanistan and logistics support. But, as before, these measures did
not have the desired effect, and the Taliban continued to advance, expanding their zones of
control 15 . If as of August 2016, under the control of official Kabul, 63.4% of the country's districts
(in May 2015 - 70.5%), then by the end of 2017, it lost another 5% of its controlled territory 16 .
At the beginning of 2018, according to estimates by the Air Force, the physical presence of
the Taliban was recorded on 70% of the territory of Afghanistan and 14 regions of the country
were under their complete control.
At the same time, the losses of the Afghan security forces, trained by American instructors,
began to grow sharply. The peak of casualties was in August 2018, when in only three days of
the first half of the month the Afghan army lost more than 200 soldiers killed on four fronts at
once. Half of them died during the heavy fighting for the strategically important city of Ghazni,
located on the Kabul-Kandahar highway. Between 40 and 100 soldiers of the Afghan elite units
died in a Taliban attack on Ayristan, 160 km west of Ghazni. In the northwestern province of
CURBING ILLICIT FINANCIAL FLOWS IN AFGHANISTAN. Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing, and Hawala. https://iwaweb.org/wp-
content/uploads/2016/04/IFF-report-English-2-for-screen.pdf
12 Afghanistan Ranked 4th Most Corrupt Country for This Year. 22 Feb 2018. https://www.tolonews.com/afghanistan/afghanistan-ranked-
4th%C2%A0most-corrupt-country-year
13 Андрей Веселов. Афганский распил. http://expert.ru/russian_reporter/2013/27/afganskij-raspil/
14 Pentagon: Afghan War Costing US $45 Billion Per Year. Feb. 6, 2018. https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2018-02-06/pentagon-
afghan-war-costing-us-45-billion-per-year
15 A new Taliban tactic is racking up a huge body count in Afghanistan. http://www.businessinsider.com/a-new-taliban-tactic-is-racking-up-a-
huge-body-count-in-afghanistan-2017-10
16 Taliban threaten 70% of Afghanistan, BBC finds by Shoaib Sharifi and Louise Adamou. 31 January 2018. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-
asia-42863116
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