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A senior United Nations official warned Tuesday that if the Taliban fail to respond quickly to the needs of all segments of society, Afghanistan could see civil conflict and deepen poverty, saying their crackdown on girls’ and women’s rights shows indifference to more than 50 percent of the population. Afghanistan’s population and willingness to risk international isolation.
Marcus Potzel, the UN deputy representative for Afghanistan, told the council that the Taliban’s “accomplishments claimed and acknowledged” were also being eroded.
He pointed to a continued rise in armed conflict, criminal activity and high-profile terrorist attacks, especially as the Islamic State extremist group has shown in recent months that it can assassinate figures close to the Taliban, attack foreign embassies and fire rockets at the Afghan government. neighbors — and maintain their longstanding campaign against Shiite Muslims and minorities.
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The economic situation also “remains fragile” as food security deteriorates and winter approaches, Potzel said.
He said it was “shocking” that a $4.4 billion humanitarian appeal from the United Nations had received only $1.9 billion, and he urged donors to provide $614 million immediately to support winter preparations and an additional $154 million for Place basic supplies before being cut off due to winter weather.
More than half of the Afghan population, some 24 million people, are in need of aid, and nearly 19 million people are facing severe food insecurity, Martin Griffiths, the UN’s humanitarian affairs chief, said in late August. “We’re concerned” the numbers will soon get worse, he said, as winter weather will send already high fuel and food prices soaring.
Potzel said that while there have been some positive developments in Afghanistan in recent months, they have been too few, too slow, “and have been offset by negative impacts,” particularly the continued ban on girls from secondary education — which in Afghanistan is unique. the world — and the growing restrictions on women’s rights. “
When the Taliban first ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, women and girls were subject to overwhelming restrictions — no education, no participation in public life, and women were required to wear the all-encompassing burqa.
Following the ouster of the Taliban by the U.S. military following the 9/11 attacks in the United States in 2001, over the next 20 years, Afghan girls not only went to school but college, and many women became doctors, lawyers, judges, parliamentarians and business owners, traveling without Wear a face covering.
U.S. and NATO forces are in the final stages of a 20-year chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan after the Taliban seized the capital on August 15, 2021, promising a more moderate form of Islamic rule, including allowing women to continue their education and work outside the home.
They initially announced no dress code, although they also vowed to implement Sharia or Sharia law. But Taliban hardliners have since turned back the clock to their previous draconian rule, confirming what human rights activists feared most and complicating the Taliban’s deal with an already distrustful international community.
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In discussions between the United Nations and Taliban officials, the leader said the decision had been made and upheld by the Taliban’s top leader, Mullah Haibatullah Akunzada, “with hardliners around him for him,” Potzel said. defended, but questioned by most of the rest of the movement, who were either unable or unwilling to change their trajectory.”
The result, he said, was that women and girls were forced to go home, disenfranchised and “deprived of the benefits of the significant contribution women and girls had to provide throughout Afghanistan.”
“What happens next if the Taliban does not respond to the needs of all members of Afghan society and engage constructively with the international community within a very limited window of opportunity,” Potzel said.
“Further division, isolation, poverty and internal conflict are possible scenarios, leading to potential mass migration and a domestic environment conducive to terrorist groups, as well as greater suffering for the Afghan people,” he said.
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