Paralysed banking system pushing Afghanistan towards collapse - Red Cross

FILE PHOTO: Members of Taliban security forces stand guard among crowds of people walking past in a street in Kabul, Afghanistan September 4, 2021. REUTERS/Stringer

DUBAI (Reuters) - Afghanistan is inching closer towards economic collapse six months after the Taliban seized power, the Red Cross said on Friday, with a paralysed banking system stymieing international efforts to get financial aid into the war-ravaged country.

Organisations such as the Red Cross have been forced to rely on informal money exchanges to move cash in to pay the salaries of some workers, although most of Afghanistan's estimated 500,000 state employees have now worked without pay for months.