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| Kabul Bank |
Long queues were seen outside several Kabulbank branches in the Afghanistan capital, with customers rushing to withdraw their funds a day after central bank governor Abdul Qadir Fitrat said Kabulbank's chairman and chief executive officer had quit.
"We have assurances to people that their deposits are not lost, will not be lost," Afghanistan's Finance Minister Omar Zakhilwal told a news conference.
"We are requesting people not to rush. We know the money is there, they must not panic. We are sure, a hundred percent, that the bank is safe," he said.
In Washington, a U.S. official said the Treasury Department had sent a team to Kabul and that it supported the Afghan Central Bank's action in response to reports of fraud at Kabulbank. But the official said the United States was not taking any steps to recapitalize Kabulbank.
"Corrective action in response to any instance of abuse or fraud is essential for the maintenance and growth of public trust in Afghan financial institutions and the development of Afghanistan's financial sector," the U.S. official said.
Corruption is one of the most common complaints from ordinary Afghans and Washington fears widespread graft is boosting the Taliban-led insurgency and complicating efforts to strengthen central government control so U.S. and other foreign troops can begin withdrawing.
Kabulbank Chairman Sher Khan Farnood and Chief Executive Khalilullah Fruzi stepped down this week because of new banking rules forbidding shareholders from holding senior management positions at a bank, Zakhilwal said.

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