OFAC Issues New Sanctions Guidance, Licenses for Afghanistan

The Office of Foreign Assets Control published a new fact sheet, three new general licenses and other guidance to help humanitarian aid flow more easily to Afghanistan. The six-page guidance describes the various general licenses available for transactions involving Afghanistan, which now cover certain U.S. government activities, transactions involving international organizations and other humanitarian work. The guidance comes after months of banks and non-governmental organizations asking OFAC to provide more assurances that they won’t be caught by sanctions (see 2109020064).

OFAC said it issued the licenses alongside a Dec. 22 decision by the United Nations Security Council to adopt a sanctions carve-out for aid to Afghanistan. The carve-out will cover certain “life-saving assistance; sustaining essential services; and preserving social investments and community-level systems essential to meeting basic human needs,” the agency said.

The new licenses represent “broad authorization to ensure” aid can flow to the country, Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo said. “We are committed to supporting the people of Afghanistan, which is why Treasury is taking these additional steps to facilitate assistance.” But in its fact sheet, the agency also said it “recognizes that the Afghan people will continue to face grave challenges, exacerbated by donor and private sector flight sparked by the Taliban’s takeover, longstanding dependences on foreign aid, drought, structural macroeconomic issues, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.”

General License No. 17 authorizes certain transactions involving the Taliban, the Haqqani Network or any entities they own by 50% or more for “official business” of U.S. government employees or contractors. General License No. 18 authorizes similar transactions by several international organizations, including the U.N., and General License No. 19 authorizes similar transactions by non-governmental organizations. New frequently asked questions 950, 954 and 955 describe the scope of OFAC’s licenses.

In FAQs 951 and 953, OFAC stressed that, unlike sanctions regimes targeting North Korea and Iran, Afghanistan isn’t subject to “comprehensive sanctions.” The agency said “there are no OFAC-administered sanctions that prohibit the export or reexport of goods or services to Afghanistan, moving or sending money into and out of Afghanistan, or activities in Afghanistan” as long as those activities don’t involve sanctioned people or property. Those people are identified on OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals List, the agency said in FAQ 952, adding that compliance programs should supplement their “due diligence information with an array of open-source material” to identify potential risks.

OFAC said it will consider all other transactions and license requests on a case-by-case basis, but will prioritize requests related to humanitarian aid.