The United Nations has asked for a record $ 5 billion to fund aid to Afghanistan this year and secure a future for a country threatened by humanitarian disaster. It’s only an emergency solution, but “The fact is that without [ce plan d’aide], there will be no future ” for Afghanistan, said Martin Griffiths, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, during a press briefing in Geneva on Monday January 10.
The UN needs $ 4.4 billion from donor countries to fund humanitarian needs this year, the largest amount ever claimed for a single country, a statement from the organization said. This amount would be spent on expanding food delivery and agricultural support, funding health services, malnutrition treatment, emergency shelters, access to water and sanitation, but also education. Some 22 million people, more than half of the country’s population, are in urgent need of assistance.
Almost 6 million refugees abroad
But the UN also needs $ 623 million more to help the 5.7 million Afghan refugees, sometimes for many years, in five neighboring countries, mainly Iran and Pakistan. Filippo Grandi, the High Commissioner for Refugees, warned bluntly: “If the country collapses, implodes (…) then we will see a much larger exodus of people. And this population movement will be difficult to manage in the region but also beyond, because it will not stop in the region. “
The country has been ruled since August by the Taliban, who have regained power and driven out the government supported at arm’s length by the international community and American military power after twenty years of guerrilla warfare. The sanctions regime put in place to try to make concessions to Islamic fundamentalists, on women’s rights in particular, has plunged the country – already very dependent on international aid – into a deep economic crisis. It is further aggravated by the drought which has been raging for several years.
No money for the Taliban
To reassure donors, Griffiths recalled that the funds – which represent a quarter of the country’s official GDP – would not go through the Taliban but would be used directly by some 160 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and UN agencies in the field. A distribution facilitated by the security situation, which is the best in years, insisted Mr. Griffiths.
The Security Council’s decision in December to facilitate humanitarian aid and gestures of goodwill from Washington for a year helped reassure financial actors, paralyzed by fear of violating sanctions and thus depriving the country of essential liquidity. its operation. Civil servants, teachers and nursing staff have sometimes not been paid for months.
While the international community is still looking for an effective way to put pressure on the Taliban so that they in particular change the way they treat women, very quickly deprived of most of the rights acquired by hard struggle for twenty years, Mr. Grandi explained that this help “Also created a space for dialogue with the Taliban which is very precious”.