New York, NY, December 22, 2021 鈥 The 探花精选 welcomes today鈥檚 move by the UN Security Council to provide a humanitarian exception in the Taliban sanctions regime, but argues more needs to be done urgently to alleviate suffering and avoid economic collapse in Afghanistan.
David Miliband, President & CEO of the 探花精选, said: 鈥淭he Security Council鈥檚 decision to introduce a humanitarian exception to sanctions on the Taliban is a critical step that will support humanitarian actors like the 探花精选 to scale up and deliver lifesaving services to Afghans in need without fearing legal repercussions. This couldn鈥檛 come soon enough as 9 million people in Afghanistan are marching toward famine and Afghan families are bracing for an extremely tough winter.
鈥淲hile this move will enable an essential increase in humanitarian aid, this alone is not sufficient to stave off economic collapse and humanitarian unraveling. The suspension of foreign development aid flows to Afghanistan鈥 which previously propped up 75% of all government spending鈥-has wiped out the government鈥檚 ability to pay public servants and deliver desperately needed public services, including basic healthcare, to millions of Afghans. At the same time the freezing of Afghanistan鈥檚 financial assets and suspension of its International Monetary Fund (IMF) support has sent the Afghan economy into a tailspin, severely limiting the government鈥檚 ability to pay for basic goods such as medicines, fuel and food.
鈥淲e have heard accounts of families taking to the streets to sell all their belongings just to get enough cash to buy food, young girls forced to marry to bring income into their family and children showing up in our clinics severely malnourished and on the brink of starvation. The suspension of foreign development aid flows, the freezing of Afghanistan鈥檚 financial assets and the suspension of IMF support are having a dire impact on ordinary Afghans who are struggling to access cash, healthcare, medicine and food.
鈥淭he international community needs to move quickly, and take decisive steps to increase development aid and cash flows into the country to help the Afghan people. Afghans must not pay twice over for failures of the international community: first for war and now for neglect.鈥
The 探花精选 began work in Afghanistan in 1988, and now works with thousands of villages across nine provinces, with Afghans making up more than 99% of 探花精选 staff in the country. As Afghanistan struggles to recover from ongoing conflict and natural disasters, the 探花精选: works with local communities to identify, plan and manage their own development projects, provides safe learning spaces in rural areas, community based education, cash distribution provides uprooted families with tents, clean water, sanitation and other basic necessities, and helps people find livelihood opportunities as well as extensive resilience programming.鈥
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