UNSC facilitates humanitarian aid delivery to Afghans

KABUL (Pajhwok): The UN Security Council (UNSC) has unanimously adopted a US-proposed resolution, facilitating delivery of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, reports international media.

The resolution paves the ground for providing humanitarian assistance to the war-torn country without the violation of UN sanctions on the Taliban.

The measure allows the payment of funds, financial assets or economic resources and the provision of goods and services necessary to ensure the timely delivery of such assistance.

Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported the resolution established a carve-out in the UN’s 1988 sanctions regime to ensure urgently-needed aid could reach the Afghan people.

The Security Council resolution allows aid to flow into Afghanistan for a year without breaching sanctions on the Taliban.

In Washington, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called UN sanctions an important tool to respond to threats and human rights abuses.

“But we must make sure these sanctions do not hinder the delivery of urgently needed aid,” the top American diplomat told a news briefing.

The text also includes the monitoring aid destination and a UN report on the functioning of the assistance every six months.

A day earlier, Reuters reported a UN plan to subsidise next year the monthly wages of the Interior Ministry personnel guarding the world body’s facilities.

Nearly 23 million people are facing extreme levels of hunger, with 9 million at risk of famine as winter takes hold, warns the United Nations.

PAN Monitor/mud