UN to seek USD 8 billion from donor countries as humanitarian assistance for Afghan crisis

UN’s top envoy in Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons on Wednesday urged the United Nations for a proposal to the donor countries to provide $8 billion in aid to manage Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis. Lyons expressed concerns about the condition of the women and girls in Kabul after the United States’ troops draw down, saying that more than half the population in the war-ravaged country was now below the poverty line. The UN, she stated, was also exploring options of scrapping the existing sanctions on Afghanistan, she said, according to Tolo News. During her speech at the Arg [the presidential palace] in Kabul, the UN official noted that the transfer of cash to Afghanistan as humanitarian help via its banking system has been revived. 

"We secured the permission to import cash to address the crippling lack of liquidity, assisted by your administration in doing so. We imported in December, last month of last year, over 120 million dollars and this month another 32 million," said the UN Secretary General's Special Representative for Afghanistan, according to Tolo News. 

Taliban’s acting Prime Minister demands 'long term' solution to Afghan crises

UN representative was addressing the first international conference about the deteriorating economic conditions and poverty in Afghanistan since the ouster of the former Ashraf Ghani government and hardline Islamist regime Taliban’s take over. Speaking alongside Lyons, Taliban’s acting Prime Minister Mullah Hassan Akhund said that the short-term aid is not enough to tackle the crisis within the country but a long-term arrangement must be sought. 

The latter also called for the international community to remove the obstacles in the way of economic recovery in Kabul. "A mutual path should be formed to meet the problems of people on time, and forever. The short-term aid is not sufficiently beneficial for the nation," he reportedly iterated. He noted that the Taliban’s all-male cabinet had appreciated the UN’s unwavering support for Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Deputy of the Prime Minister, Abdul Salam Hanafi, told the Afghan media that the Taliban would monitor the distribution of aid to vulnerable people dispatched by the UN. 

Earlier, the UN’s Martin Griffiths, the Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator for the humanitarian crisis for Afghanistan also iterated that as many as 22 million Afghans inside the country and 5 million other Afghans who immigrated to the neighbouring countries were in need of urgent financial help. Of the $5 billion humanitarian assistance, he said, $4.4 billion would be utilized to prevent malnutrition and poverty, and the rest $623 million US will be given to 40 UNCHR agencies.