Deputy PM Hanafi meets top UN aid official

The Deputy Prime Minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Mawlavi Abdul Salam Hanafi, said Tuesday in a meeting with Martin Griffiths the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs that it is very important to help Afghans no matter what the circumstances.

In a meeting with Deputy PM Hanafi, Griffiths said the aim of his visit to Afghanistan was to focus on the humanitarian mission.

According to him, the UN has appealed for $4.6 billion in aid to assist 28 million Afghans – the largest aid appeal in the world.

Griffiths said however it was necessary for women aid workers to deliver aid to women and children.

For his part, Hanafi hailed the UN’s efforts to secure aid for Afghans and said that Afghanistan has suffered many years of war over the past 43 years, many women have become widows, and countless families have lost loved ones. He said the infrastructure in this country was destroyed and basic facilities were not rebuilt.

He stressed the importance of helping Afghans.

Hanafi said that many positive achievements have been made under the Islamic Emirate, including the provision of national security, a general amnesty, banning the cultivation, processing and trafficking of drugs, independent functions of the courts, helping families of martyrs and the disabled, and treating drug addicts, and removing beggars from the streets.

Hanafi talked about the status and value of women in the holy religion of Islam, and said that women have special rights and status in Islam.

“We hope that the issues that exist in this respect will be addressed with understanding,” he added.