Afghanistan: Managing sanctions, financial crime risk, and humanitarian aid challenges

WorldECR is delighted to present, in association with Alex Zerden, former US Treasury Department Financial Attaché to Kabul, a one-hour webinar on the sanctions and financial crime risks, challenges to the delivery of humanitarian assistance and other issues arising out of the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan.

The presentation covers:

• An overview of the relevant sanctions regimes in play (including UN, US, and EU sanctions regimes involving the Taliban, Iran, and counterterrorism and narcotics trafficking designations);
• Sanctions and AML/CFT challenges (licences, humanitarian assistance, role of the Hawala sector);
• Issue-spotting/novel challenges (third party risk, regional implications including for the UAE, Qatar, Turkey, and Pakistan); and
• Risks related to the use of cryptocurrencies in Afghanistan.

The webinar concludes with Q&A – and horizon scanning.

Alex Zerden has served in a number of roles at the U.S. Treasury Department, including in Afghanistan as the Financial Attaché from 2018-2019 where he was the department’s senior representative to interagency, international, and host nation partners. He also has experience working on the White House National Economic Council, the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and the US House of Representatives Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis; as an AML/CFT financial regulator, in law enforcement, and in private practice. He is currently the Principal of Capitol Peak Strategies and an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security (‘CNAS’).