Starting from scratch

Zahid Molla, head of risk management, Afghanistan International Bank, talks to Alexander Campbell

A decade ago, the national treasury of Afghanistan consisted of two large tin trunks full of banknotes, which were kept in Kabul, beside the bed of the country's ruler, Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar. Today, Omar and the Taliban are gone from the city, and Afghanistan has developed a more conventional approach to finance. But banking in Afghanistan still involves a wider range of problems than would be the case in, say, Basel - not least because of the security situation.

Zahid Molla