New Delhi, Sep 28 (IANS): Afghanistan's banking system is close to collapse. Syed Moosa Kaleem Al-Falahi, the Chief Executive of the Islamic Bank of Afghanistan, said the country's financial industry is in the grip of an "existential crisis" as customers panic, BBC reported.

"There's huge withdrawals happening at the moment", he said, speaking from Dubai, where he is temporarily based because of the chaos in Kabul.

"Only withdrawals are happening, most of the banks are not functioning, and not providing full services," he added, the report said.

Afghanistan's economy was already on shaky ground even before the Taliban took control in August.

But since the Taliban takeover, the West has frozen international funds, including assets Afghanistan could have accessed with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

So accessing international funds and foreign assistance is key to Afghanistan's survival.

But countries like the US have said that while they are willing to consider working with the Taliban - it will depend on some pre-conditions - including the regime's treatment of women and minorities.