Guards beat customers at crisis-hit Afghan bank

Seems that bank runs don't only happen in the UK, customers at the largest private bank in Afghanistan were beaten by guards for daring to withdraw "their" money from the corruption tainted bank on Wednesday.

It seems many Afghans have been lured into a more western style saving and payment arrangements since the US/NATO invasion, lead on by the convenience of ATMs and POS terminals.

Prior the latest invasion, the UK is on its fourth failed invasion, the average Afghan used to store their wealth in gold and silver, most often in the form of a gold coin of their most regular visitor, the British gold Sovereign. This practice was so wide spread that US and UK soldiers deploying to Afghanistan are given gold sovereigns, not fiat currency, in their emergency packs to buy their freedom or food if cut off from their company.

From Reuters: KABUL, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Afghan security forces used batons on unruly customers scrambling to withdraw their savings on Wednesday from a branch of the graft-hit Kabulbank, the country's biggest private financial institution.

Kabulbank's troubles have threatened to add a financial crisis to Afghanistan's other woes, with military and civilian casualties at record levels as a Taliban-led insurgency grows and ahead of parliamentary elections on Sept. 18.

Officers from the National Security Directorate struggled to maintain control of up to 200 people outside one branch in the capital as desperate customers tried to take out money ahead of a three-day Muslim holiday.

The crisis developed after the company's top two directors resigned amid unproven media allegations of corruption.......read on