UNAMA chief says two-thirds of Afghan people will need aid this year

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan’s top envoy said on Wednesday that 28 million Afghan people, accounting for two-thirds of the country’s population, will need life-saving humanitarian assistance this year.

Addressing a Security Council meeting, Roza Otunbayeva said the the assistance will cost $4.62 billion and that almost 20 million people are experiencing crisis levels of food insecurity, with six million people just one step away from famine-like conditions.

“Our humanitarian action is challenged by an increasingly complex access and security environment,” said Otunbayeva.

She said the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) ban on women working in non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are not the only serious obstacles to reaching vulnerable populations. She also said she feared that “national women staff working for the UN will also be banned.”

Otunbayeva said the ban on women working for NGOs, along with banning women from higher education, will have serious consequences for the Afghan population and for the relationship between the IEA and the international community.

She warned that “funding for Afghanistan is likely to drop” if women were not allowed to work.