Resumption of large scale humanitarian aid for Afghans urged

KABUL (Pajhwok): Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, in a letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and World Bank urged the resumption of a large international aid pipeline to deal with worsening humanitarian situation in Afghanistan.

“The urgency of the situation cannot be underscored enough. The harsh winter is weeks away and countless girls and women, boys and men will perish unless the large international aid pipeline, which is now virtually frozen, is resumed,” he wrote.

The UN, NGOs and Red Cross/Red Crescent are all able and willing to resume full operations on the ground and have intensive access talks with the new authorities across the country, but we are neither receiving the funds pledged nor the funds that are temporarily frozen.

The social and economic collapse for the 40 million civilians left behind, when much of the international community withdrew, is fueled by the non-payment of salaries for hundreds of thousands of public sector employees since May. During my mission, I met teachers, health workers and municipal workers that now are in survival mode and can neither feed their families nor keep vital public services afloat. These were all previously paid by World Bank funding. He added.

Given the lack of trust between donor nations and the new Taliban authorities, the mechanism that would salvage the situation would be UN Agency administered Trust Fund that pay Public employees directly using the lists of public workers that the world Bank funding covered up until May/June. Since the resources exist within the World Bank and trusted UN channels are operational in the country the actual transfer can be speedily established.

nh

Visits: 90