This clarification is in response to some inaccurate reporting by several news outlets about payments under World Bank-financed projects in Afghanistan.
These payments pertain to outstanding liabilities owed by the former government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to various contractors that had been contracted by the Republic government under World Bank-financed projects and fulfilled their obligations prior to August 15, 2021. These contracts were concluded between the Republic government and the contractors. Hence, the responsibility to make these outstanding payments lay with the Republic government, not the World Bank.
The World Bank is currently finalizing a multi-phased process of facilitating the payments of these outstanding liabilities. The World Bank is not a party to these contracts and is only facilitating the payment process of these liabilities on an exceptional basis following a rigorous process of validation and independent third-party verification.
The recent statement refers to this process as well as the technical-level coordination needed to finalize it. The progress made in this process is an important achievement. Beyond this, no re-initiation of previous projects has been discussed or agreed.
