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Afghan dire humanitarian situation demands urgent support from int’l community: official
Afghanistan has faced a dire humanitarian situation over past few months, which urges the international community to take immediate actions to support the humanitarian response in the region, said an official of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Thursday, Reuters reported.
Last August, the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan added more woes to the country following two decades of war.
According to Reuters following the hasty pullout, the U.S. government quickly froze nearly 9.5 billion U.S. dollars in national foreign exchange assets from the Afghan central bank held in the United States, further aggravating the already dire humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.
Last year, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned that Afghanistan is facing “an avalanche of hunger and destitution”, with 98 percent of the population lacking adequate food.
The ICRC Director-General Robert Mardini elaborated on his experience in Afghanistan after visiting there in February of last year, read the report.
“It is very severe. It’s very difficult to have exact figures. But we see more and more people in the streets, selling their few belongings to be able to put food on the table. We see more and more people seeking daily jobs. The situation is very dire. The economic system is on the brink of collapse. The vast majority of banks are not working. It’s very hard for people to get funds. The vast majority of civil servants today in Afghanistan are simply not getting their salaries. So, you can imagine the ripple effect when a family relies on, eight members of a family rely on a salary, how hard daily life is for Afghans today,” he said.
He believes that the current extreme situation in Afghanistan should be attributed to a combination of factors including warfares and climate change.
“This is the consequence of four decades of armed conflict that really brought the country in a very dire state. And then the effects of climate change are also at the same time and concurrently hitting Afghanistan, with the cycles of drought and floods that are more intense, more frequent. And of course, this is putting huge pressure on the food production in the country and the ability of Afghans to sustain their own needs. And the fact today that the international community and the vast majority of development agencies unplugged their support to Afghanistan since August last year, a country that relies heavily on international aid, of course, is bringing many of the critical services that 40 million Afghans rely on, at the brink of collapse,” he said.
The ICRC director-general also called on the international community to scale up support to humanitarian efforts in Afghanistan to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe in the region, Reuters reported.
“Afghans have experienced four decades of armed conflict, repeated cycles of drought, putting their food security at risk. And I think it’s fair to say that no family has been spared by the effect of war. And while the day-to-day security has improved over the past months, Afghans face acute needs in humanitarian, but also in socio-economic terms. And this is not the time for the international community to forget Afghanistan. The well-being of the Afghan people should really lie above politics. And the ICRC is really committed and will consistently call for proper international attention and funding to ensure that public services that are critical to the survival of the civilian population be preserved in the country and the economic collapse is avoided,” said Mardini.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate said on Wednesday the government of Oman released nine Afghan citizens imprisoned in the Gulf country on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr.
The ministry stated that the release was carried out under a special decree by Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said of Oman.
The statement added that six of the released individuals have already returned to Afghanistan following coordination with relevant authorities, and the remaining three will return soon.
The Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce, Ahmadullah Zahid, along with the Ambassador of the Islamic Emirate and his accompanying delegation, on Wednesday met with Uzbekistan’s Deputy Minister of Industry, Investment, and Trade and several other Uzbek officials in Tashkent, the Afghan commerce ministry said in a statement.
During the meeting, both sides discussed strengthening economic relations, resolving issues faced by Afghan traders, and effectively implementing shared economic matters.
Zahid stated that the two countries should take prompt action in the agreed-upon areas.
The Uzbek side pledged to soon begin work on establishing a joint trade center and announced that a high-level delegation from Uzbekistan will visit Kabul in May.
The 2nd Special Meeting of the Economic Commission for the year 1446 Hijri was held under the leadership of Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), on the 28th, 29th, and 30th of Shawwal al-Mukarram (April 26 to 28), the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office for Economic Affairs said in a statement on Wednesday.
At the meeting, a decision was made to allow the export of Afghan livestock for six months each year, under a regulated mechanism.
In addition, the General Directorate of Administrative Affairs was assigned the responsibility of formulating a comprehensive process, in coordination with relevant ministries, to expedite the processing of investors’ and traders’ affairs within government institutions and to resolve existing challenges across all sectors.
This procedure is to be submitted first to the Economic Commission for endorsement, and then to the office of the IEA’s supreme leader for final approval.
This second meeting follows reports on the decisions made during the first meeting of the Economic Commission, which was held under the leadership of the supreme leader on the 3rd of Jumada al-Awwal 1446 (November 29, 2024).
At the first meeting, a committee chaired by the General Directorate of Administrative Affairs was assigned the task of formulating a procedure for facilitating the sale and distribution of state-owned plots and the leasing of buildings in accordance with urban planning principles.
This committee presented the draft procedure for review during this second meeting, and after incorporating certain amendments, the procedure will be sent to the office of Haibatullah Akhundzada for final approval.
According to this procedure, citizens can complete the land registration process of private land within 15 days, and have the land map approved and initiate construction work within one month.
At the first meeting, the Ministry of Agriculture was tasked with transferring land to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce in all provinces for the establishment of industrial parks.
Meanwhile, during the second meeting, both ministries reported on the implementation of this decision, confirming that the transfer of 80,000 hectares of land had been completed in most provinces, while in some provinces the process is nearing completion.
This initiative is expected to resolve the issue of land shortage for industrialists across all provinces.
Additionally, a committee led by the Ministry of Public Health was assigned to develop a procedure to prevent the smuggling of human, animal, and agricultural medicines, health products, and food items.
The committee prepared and presented the procedure for evaluation during the second meeting. After integrating a series of amendments, the procedure will be submitted to the office of the IEA leader for approval.
Also during the second special meeting of the Economic Commission, reports on the implementation of the decisions made in the first meeting were presented by the relevant ministries and institutions.
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