A U.S.-funded audit of Afghanistan’s Taliban-run central bank failed to convince Washington to restore bank assets from a $3.5 billion Swiss trust fund, which would help ease the country’s financial crisis.

The audit has not affected the U.S. Treasury’s assessment that the bank must reform before the department will support disbursements from the Afghan Fund to Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB).

The Swiss-based Afghan Fund was established last year with half of around $7 billion in central bank money frozen in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in August 2021 when the Taliban gained control of the nation after two decades of conflict.

The Taliban’s demand for the return of DAB funds frozen in the US and other countries after the Taliban took control is stalled by Washington and other capitals’ concerns about the bank’s leadership and anti-money laundering precautions.

The trust fund’s four-member board needs U.S. government support to approve distributions unanimously.