United Nations
Reuters
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday said any suggestion the world body can solve Afghanistan’s problems is “a fantasy” and that its capacity to mediate for a more inclusive Taliban government is limited.
Asked in an interview with Reuters a month after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan from a Western-backed government whether he felt pressure to repair the country’s plight, Guterres said: “I think there is an expectation that is unfounded” of UN influence as the main international organization still on the ground there.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres poses for a photo during an interview with Reuters at the United Nations Headquarters in Manhattan, New York City, US, on 15th September. PICTURE: Reuters/Andrew Kelly.
The world has watched a number of countries send thousands of soldiers to Afghanistan and spend vast sums of money for 20 years since a US-led invasion ousted the Taliban for harboring al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
The United States spent $US1 trillion, only to see the Afghan government and military it supported collapse ahead of a full withdrawal of US and other foreign forces in August.
UN REFUGEE CHIEF WARNS “GREATER SUFFERING” LIKELY
Afghanistan needs urgent and sustained support from the international community to prevent a larger humanitarian crisis, the head of the UN refugee agency said, warning of global implications if that were to happen.
“The humanitarian situation in Afghanistan remains desperate,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in a statement after a three-day visit to the South Asian nation.
People from Afghanistan walk with their belongings as they cross into Pakistan at the ‘Friendship Gate’ crossing point, in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border town of Chaman, Pakistan, on 7th September. PICTURE: Reuters/Saeed Ali Achakzai
“If public services and the economy collapse, we will see even greater suffering, instability, and displacement both within and outside the country,” he added in Wednesday’s statement.
“The international community must therefore engage with Afghanistan – and quickly – in order to prevent a much bigger humanitarian crisis that will have not only regional, but global implications.”
Even before the Taliban took over last month, Grandi said, more than 18 million Afghans, or about half the population, required humanitarian aid.
More than 3.5 million Afghans were already displaced in a country that is battling drought and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Poverty and hunger have spiralled since the Taliban takeover, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told an international aid conference this week that Afghans are facing “perhaps their most perilous hour”.
Donors at the conference pledged more than $US1.1 billion to help Afghanistan.
– RAJU GOPALAKRISHNAN, Reuters
“To think – given that they have failed with all these resources to fix the problems of Afghanistan – that we can now, without those forces and money, solve the problems they couldn’t solve for decades is a fantasy,” Guterres said ahead of next week’s annual UN gathering of world leaders in New York.
The United Nations will be doing everything it can for a country that Guterres said is on “the verge of a dramatic humanitarian disaster” and has decided to engage the Taliban in order to help Afghanistan’s roughly 36 million people.
Even before the Taliban’s seizure of the capital Kabul, half the country’s population depended on aid. That looks set to increase due to drought and shortages and the World Food Programme has warned 14 million people were on the brink of starvation.
Guterres said he supports efforts to convince the Taliban to form a more inclusive government than when it ruled 20 years ago. The United Nations has little capacity to mediate, he said, and should focus on its “position of an international organisation that is there to support the Afghan people.”
“You cannot expect miracles,” he said, stressing that the United Nations could engage with the Taliban, but that the Islamist movement would never accept a UN role in helping form a new Afghan government.
Humanitarian aid, Guterres said, should be used as an instrument to help convince the Taliban to respect fundamental rights, including those of women and girls.
Governments pledged more than $US1.1 billion in aid this week for Afghanistan and refugee programs in neighboring countries. Guterres also appealed for countries to make sure the Afghan economy is “not completely strangled”.
World reaction to the government of Taliban veterans and hardliners announced last week has been cool, and there has been no sign of international recognition or moves to unblock more than $US9 billion in foreign reserves held outside Afghanistan.
“There must be ways to inject some cash in the Afghan economy, for the economy not to collapse and for the people not to be in a dramatic situation, forcing probably millions to flee,” said Guterres, who will begin his second five-year term as UN chief on 1st January, 2022.
He said the United Nations will work with its partners to ensure that aid is distributed based on humanitarian principles and “that everybody should be treated equally without any kind of distinction based on gender, on ethnicity or any other consideration.”
Guterres emphasized that it is too early to know if the Taliban will respect rights and govern responsibly.
He called the situation in Afghanistan “unpredictable,” adding: “Nobody knows what will happen, but it’s important to engage.”
– Additional reporting by DANIEL FASTENBERG.
