UNITED NATIONS: The UN chief on Wednesday urged nations to boost humanitarian aid for the millions of Afghans living in “frozen hell” and continue to pull up nearly $9 billion worth of frozen assets. AfghanistanThe U.S. economy has come back from the brink of a collapse that could set off a mass exodus of people fleeing the country.
“Time is of the essence,” Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council. “Without action, lives will be lost, and despair and extremism will increase.”
Guterres said that liquidity in the Afghan economy should be restored immediately. He said this meant freeing up the country’s frozen currency reserves, reconnecting with its central bank and finding other ways to invest money, including to pay salaries of doctors, teachers, sweepers, electricians and other civil servants. allowing for international funding.
China and Russia reiterate their call to stabilize Afghan assets, while US ambassadors Linda Thomas-Greenfield Said the Biden administration is examining “various options to ease the liquidity crunch.”
He said the United States, which on January 11 announced an initial contribution of $308 million in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, remains the country’s largest provider of aid. But she added that “the extraordinary level of need that the Afghan people is experiencing will require a great deal of support from the international community to meet.”
Afghanistan’s aid-dependent economy was already faltering when the Taliban seized power last August amid the chaotic departure of US and NATO troops after 20 years. Due to brutality during the 1996-2001 regime and refusal to educate girls and allow women to work, the international community froze Afghanistan’s assets abroad and was unwilling to work with the Taliban, Financial support stopped.
Guterres said the World Bank’s Reconstruction Trust Fund for Afghanistan last month transferred $280 million to UN children’s agency UNICEF and the World Food Program. He said the remaining $1.2 million should be released immediately to help Afghans survive the winter.
Deborah Lyons, the UN Special Representative for Afghanistan told the Council that the more than $4.4 billion humanitarian appeal launched by the UN for Afghanistan two weeks ago – the largest in UN history for any single country – “almost The same amount is spent by the donors. On the entire operating budget of the government.” The majority of that budget support came from the United States.
The UN says 8.7 million Afghans are on the verge of starvation, and Guterres said more than half the population faces “extreme levels of hunger”.
“More than 80% of the population is dependent on contaminated drinking water, and some families are selling their children to buy food,” he said.
The council passed a resolution last month reaffirming that humanitarian aid to Afghans was not a violation of sanctions against the Taliban, but China’s UN ambassador, zhang junThe aid, claimed, is being used as “a bargaining chip, a political tool.”
It is “playing games with the lives and well being of 38 million Afghans who are in dire need of relief,” zhang He said freezing Afghan assets and unilateral sanctions are “no less deadly than military intervention.”
If Afghan women “can’t even eat or survive, talk of education, employment and political participation will become empty words,” he said.
Deputy Russian Ambassador Dmitry Polyansky warned that unless the issue of stabilizing Afghanistan’s assets is resolved quickly, “Afghanistan has no long-term prospect of a way out of this crisis.”
“We ask the United States and other Western donors to get the money back to the country,” he said. “The money belongs to the Afghan people and cannot be used as a tool for bargaining or to punish Afghans for the new reality that has developed in their country.”
Polinsky warned that the consequences of Afghanistan’s economic collapse would not only increase the number of refugees but would “spread terrorist activities, spur drug production and, as a result, create even more instability both in the region and beyond.” ”
UN envoy Leone told a video briefing from Kabul that it was clear donors were still not satisfied with the Taliban’s political progress, either in including more ethnic diversity in their government or in providing higher education for girls and women. In ensuring working opportunities. ,
This week, a high-level Taliban delegation met with representatives of Afghan civil society in the Norwegian capital Oslo.
Lyons noted that a joint communique from the talks said that “understanding and joint cooperation is the only solution to all of Afghanistan’s problems.” She said now the Taliban should “act on it.”
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gehr Store, whose country held the Security Council this month and chaired the meeting, said the Taliban delegation also held direct talks with representatives from Norway, the US, France and Britain, but insisted that Said it was not a sign of recognition. Taliban government.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Store said, “We have to talk to them, engage them and offer very clear expectations, because Afghanistan is facing a serious humanitarian crisis today and a million children could starve to death.” Huh.”
He said there were no talks, no agreements signed, but that as far as he could see, the talks were “the beginning of something that could lead to something.”
“Time is of the essence,” Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council. “Without action, lives will be lost, and despair and extremism will increase.”
Guterres said that liquidity in the Afghan economy should be restored immediately. He said this meant freeing up the country’s frozen currency reserves, reconnecting with its central bank and finding other ways to invest money, including to pay salaries of doctors, teachers, sweepers, electricians and other civil servants. allowing for international funding.
China and Russia reiterate their call to stabilize Afghan assets, while US ambassadors Linda Thomas-Greenfield Said the Biden administration is examining “various options to ease the liquidity crunch.”
He said the United States, which on January 11 announced an initial contribution of $308 million in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, remains the country’s largest provider of aid. But she added that “the extraordinary level of need that the Afghan people is experiencing will require a great deal of support from the international community to meet.”
Afghanistan’s aid-dependent economy was already faltering when the Taliban seized power last August amid the chaotic departure of US and NATO troops after 20 years. Due to brutality during the 1996-2001 regime and refusal to educate girls and allow women to work, the international community froze Afghanistan’s assets abroad and was unwilling to work with the Taliban, Financial support stopped.
Guterres said the World Bank’s Reconstruction Trust Fund for Afghanistan last month transferred $280 million to UN children’s agency UNICEF and the World Food Program. He said the remaining $1.2 million should be released immediately to help Afghans survive the winter.
Deborah Lyons, the UN Special Representative for Afghanistan told the Council that the more than $4.4 billion humanitarian appeal launched by the UN for Afghanistan two weeks ago – the largest in UN history for any single country – “almost The same amount is spent by the donors. On the entire operating budget of the government.” The majority of that budget support came from the United States.
The UN says 8.7 million Afghans are on the verge of starvation, and Guterres said more than half the population faces “extreme levels of hunger”.
“More than 80% of the population is dependent on contaminated drinking water, and some families are selling their children to buy food,” he said.
The council passed a resolution last month reaffirming that humanitarian aid to Afghans was not a violation of sanctions against the Taliban, but China’s UN ambassador, zhang junThe aid, claimed, is being used as “a bargaining chip, a political tool.”
It is “playing games with the lives and well being of 38 million Afghans who are in dire need of relief,” zhang He said freezing Afghan assets and unilateral sanctions are “no less deadly than military intervention.”
If Afghan women “can’t even eat or survive, talk of education, employment and political participation will become empty words,” he said.
Deputy Russian Ambassador Dmitry Polyansky warned that unless the issue of stabilizing Afghanistan’s assets is resolved quickly, “Afghanistan has no long-term prospect of a way out of this crisis.”
“We ask the United States and other Western donors to get the money back to the country,” he said. “The money belongs to the Afghan people and cannot be used as a tool for bargaining or to punish Afghans for the new reality that has developed in their country.”
Polinsky warned that the consequences of Afghanistan’s economic collapse would not only increase the number of refugees but would “spread terrorist activities, spur drug production and, as a result, create even more instability both in the region and beyond.” ”
UN envoy Leone told a video briefing from Kabul that it was clear donors were still not satisfied with the Taliban’s political progress, either in including more ethnic diversity in their government or in providing higher education for girls and women. In ensuring working opportunities. ,
This week, a high-level Taliban delegation met with representatives of Afghan civil society in the Norwegian capital Oslo.
Lyons noted that a joint communique from the talks said that “understanding and joint cooperation is the only solution to all of Afghanistan’s problems.” She said now the Taliban should “act on it.”
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gehr Store, whose country held the Security Council this month and chaired the meeting, said the Taliban delegation also held direct talks with representatives from Norway, the US, France and Britain, but insisted that Said it was not a sign of recognition. Taliban government.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Store said, “We have to talk to them, engage them and offer very clear expectations, because Afghanistan is facing a serious humanitarian crisis today and a million children could starve to death.” Huh.”
He said there were no talks, no agreements signed, but that as far as he could see, the talks were “the beginning of something that could lead to something.”
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