In a sign of increasing stability in Iraq, several Iraqi banks have installed the country’s first ATMs, including 20 ATMs operating in Baghdad.

The first ATMs have opened in Iraq since the invasion five years ago — an encouraging factoid contained in a new by-the-numbers Defense Department report about progress in the country.

In fact, there are now 20 ATMs in Baghdad, where the banking system was so devastated a few years ago that the United States had to fly in pallets stacked with dollars to pay government employees. Some restaurants even accept credit cards these days.

ATMs aren’t limited to Baghdad. According to the U.S. embassy in Iraq:

Customers of Al’Warka’ Bank in rural Diyala province can now get instant cash from an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) because of improved security and an enterprising Iraqi private sector.

The ATM, installed in early May at the bank’s branch office in downtown Baqubah, is the first in Diyala. Al’Warka’, a private bank, informed the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) operating development programs in the Province that it has plans to add three more ATMs in Baqubah in the next few months.

ATMs are a small thing, of course, but consider what is needed to keep one functioning: an expectation that neither the ATM nor its customers will be robbed or attacked, a reliable supply of electricity to keep it running, a reliable communications system (either telephone lines or Internet connections) so it can process transactions, and enough trust in the banking system that people are willing to keep their money there. So the existence of ATMs says a lot about the stability of the country they’re located in.

ATMs: bringing hope and easy access to cash to people around the world.