Foreign nations and institutions such as the IMF have imposed restrictions that mean the new rulers of Afghanistan, the Taliban, cannot access its finances and many charities and NGOs have held back funds.
Mary-Ellen McGroarty, the UN’s World Food Programme’s country director for Afghanistan, told the Observer that swift coordinated action was critical. “Otherwise, an already horrendous situation is just going to become an absolute catastrophe, a complete humanitarian disaster,” she said. “We need to get supplies into the country, not only in terms of food, but the medical supplies, the shelter supplies. We need money and we need it now." She continued, “Delay for the next six or seven weeks and it’s going to start becoming too late. People have nothing. We have to get food in now and get it to the communities in the provinces, before roads are blocked by snow.”
It is clear Afghanistan already suffering from extreme drought, huge displacements of people and economic paralysis is a disaster requiring immediate international action. McGroarty said that one in three Afghan people were already in a crisis of hunger, with more than two million children at risk of becoming malnourished. Drought had already led to a 40% reduction in wheat production, while the Afghan currency was collapsing. Covid rates are also high.
She explained, “As everybody across the world has been watching, there is the escalation in the conflict over the last couple of months – over 500,000 people displaced, 250,000 of those since May. You saw the tens of thousands of people flowing into Kabul. That has played out right across the country. They have left behind their homes and left behind their farms. People haven’t been able to farm, it’s unsafe to go out. They have nothing but the clothes on their back. What is urgent now is some form of ceasefire that allows a massive scale-up in the humanitarian response. The humanitarian imperative cannot be lost.”
David Miliband, president of the International Rescue Committee , said: “Hours and days matter because everything we know shows that untended humanitarian crisis fuels political instability.” He added, “Anyone who believes that the problems in Afghanistan stay in Afghanistan has got another think coming.”
A former Tory cabinet minister, David Davis, said it was essential the UK now stepped up to meet the humanitarian needs. “If the west wants to be a serious force in the world for the future, it’s vital that we handle at least this part of the exit with a great level of commitment and competence.”
Afghans face catastrophe without urgent aid, UN warns | Afghanistan | The Guardian
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