International community and the de facto authorities of Afghanistan need to continue to deliver humanitarian aid in order for 24 million Afghans to survive, said Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.
Griffiths remarks came at the UN Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan and he stated that humanitarians have stayed and delivered in Afghanistan in the year since the Taliban takeover. A $4.4 billion Humanitarian Response Plan for Afghanistan currently has a gap of $3.14 billion, he said.
UN Humanitarian Coordinator Martin Griffiths, who briefed ambassadors, reported on the ongoing hardships and uncertainty facing Afghans, nearly half of whom require aid relief to survive. “Afghanistan’s crisis is a humanitarian crisis, but it’s not only that. It’s an economic crisis. It’s a climate crisis. It’s a hunger crisis. It’s a financial crisis. But it’s not a hopeless crisis,” he said.
Griffiths, while stating that engaging with de facto authorities is “labour intensive”, explained that large-scale development assistance has been halted for a year in a country that was already facing severe levels of food insecurity and malnutrition, which have only deteriorated since then.
He added that no confidence in the domestic banking sector which has sparked a liquidity crisis, has affected aid delivery.
Griffiths also referred to the closure of school for girls and violation of women rights, adding, “In the 21st century, we should not need to explain why girls’ education and women’s empowerment are important to them, to their communities, to their countries, and indeed to all of us.”
The UN relief chief stressed that preserving basic service delivery alongside humanitarian assistance “remains the only way to prevent a catastrophe even greater than what we have seen these many months.”
Meanwhile, Markus Potzel, the Secretary-General’s Acting Special Representative for Afghanistan, reported on the UN’s ongoing engagement with the de facto authorities, as well as efforts towards promoting inclusive governance, rights and freedoms. He said the Taliban have been “ambiguous” as to the extent to which they want to engage, predicated on being in accordance with their interpretation of Sharia law.
