[ad_1]
The United Nations has urged the world to raise US$606 million for Afghanistan. Since the Taliban came to power, poverty and hunger in Afghanistan have been increasing, and billions of foreign aid have been dried up by the West’s distrust of the new ruler.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in his opening speech at a conference seeking aid for Afghanistan in Geneva on Monday that after decades of war, suffering and insecurity, Afghans are facing “maybe It is their most dangerous moment,” adding that “the Afghan people need a lifeline.
“Let us be clear: this meeting is not just about what we will offer the Afghan people. It is about what we owe.”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres and UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths talk before the aid conference [Denis Balibouse/Reuters]He said the food supply may be exhausted by the end of this month.
The Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, banning women from working and girls going to school, and were overthrown in a US-led invasion. The US accused them of sheltering Al-Qaeda members behind the September 11 attacks.
With the withdrawal of the last batch of NATO troops led by the United States, Western-backed government power disappeared, and the Taliban returned to power with a lightning-fast push last month.
With the abrupt end of the aid flow, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas stated that international donors have a “moral obligation” to continue to help Afghans after 20 years of their involvement.
In Kabul, workers are waiting on the street to be hired [Bernat Armangue/AP Photo]Neighbors China and Pakistan have already provided help.
Beijing announced last week that it will deliver US$31 million worth of food and medical supplies to Afghanistan. Pakistan delivered edible oil and medicines to the authorities in Kabul, and called for the defrosting of Afghanistan’s assets.
“The mistakes of the past cannot be repeated. The Afghan people must not be abandoned,” said Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, whose country is likely to be the first to be affected by any refugee outflow.
“Continued contact with Afghanistan to meet its humanitarian needs is essential.”
James Beth, the diplomatic editor of Al Jazeera from Geneva, said that some countries are “unwilling” to provide funding at this stage.
“They don’t want the money to fall into the hands of the Taliban,” he added.
United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator Martin Griffith told Al Jazeera in Geneva that the agency wants to ensure that the money goes directly to local humanitarians who serve the Afghan people, calling the situation “very terrible.”
U.S. pledges $64 million
US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield (Linda Thomas-Greenfield) said at the meeting that Washington is providing Afghanistan with nearly $64 million in new humanitarian aid.
“Let us commit today to meet this urgent appeal for financial support, to stand with humanitarian workers as they complete their most important work, and to strengthen humanitarian operations in Afghanistan so that we can save Afghanistan in need Human life,” she said. Said.
Even before the Taliban occupied Kabul last month, half of the population — 18 million people — depended on aid. United Nations officials and aid organizations have warned that this number appears to increase due to drought and shortages of cash and food.
Afghans wait in front of the bank as they try to withdraw money in Kabul [Bernat Armangue/AP Photo]Approximately one third of the USD 606 million sought will go to the United Nations World Food Programme, which found that 93% of the 1,600 Afghans surveyed in August and September did not consume enough food, mainly Because they cannot get cash to pay.
“Now is a race against time and snow to provide life-saving assistance to the Afghan people who need it most,” said Anthea Webb, the deputy regional director of the World Food Program.
“We are actually begging and borrowing to avoid running out of food stocks.”
The World Health Organization is another United Nations agency participating in the call. It is seeking to support hundreds of medical institutions that are at risk of closing down after donors withdraw.
Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford, reporting from Kabul, said that the health clinics in the country were “completely shocking”.
“A few days ago, we visited a rural clinic on the outskirts of Kabul, where there are many women who wish to give birth on any given day. They don’t even have rubber gloves. There are no antibiotics, no preservatives,” he said.
“Some people come in with colds and sore throats. Nurses and doctors can’t even give them simple painkillers.”
[ad_2]
Source link