Reuters alone with damaging IMF assessment of Afghanistan bank crisis

Reuters ran an exclusive report on Feb. 15 on a grim assessment given by the International Monetary Fund of the Afghan governments handling of a fraud crisis at Kabulbank. The scandal at the politically well-connected bank could have devastating consequences for the government, and put at risk the billions of dollars in aid on which Afghanistan relies. According to diplomats contacted by Reuters, corruption, bad loans and mismanagement cost Kabulbank hundreds of millions of dollars and the governments inability to come up with a serious solution to the crisis could see the IMF withdraw its support for the aid-reliant country. The New York Times ran a follow-up story later in the day but had few if any details, a Wall Street Journal report used much of the same language as the Reuters story, but without attribution, while AP entered the game a full day later with a bland IMF statement already covered by Reuters in Washington.