Guterres made these remarks while speaking with journalists in New York. He said that the world needs to find ways to make the economy breathe again….reports Asian Lite News
Urging the international community to inject liquidity into the Afghan economy, UN chief Antonio Guterres has said that humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan will not help the crisis-hit country if its economy collapses.
“Humanitarian assistance saves lives. But it will not solve the problem if the economy of Afghanistan collapses. We also need to make sure we do everything we can to prevent the economic collapse of the country,” Guterres was quoted as saying by Sputnik.
Guterres made these remarks while speaking with journalists in New York. He said that the world needs to find ways to make the economy breathe again.
“This can be done without violating international laws or compromising principles. We must seek ways to create the conditions that would allow Afghan professionals and civil servants to continue working to serve the Afghan population. I urge the world to take action and inject liquidity into the Afghan economy to avoid collapse,” the UN chief added.
“Since their takeover, the Taliban have – at various times – promised Afghan citizens — including women, children, minority communities, former government employees — that they would protect their rights,” the UN chief recalled.
“I strongly appeal to the Taliban to keep their promises to women and girls and fulfill their obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law,” he said.
The UN chief’s remarks come amid an escalating humanitarian crisis in the country.
In September alone, more than 3.8 million people received food assistance; 21,000 children and 10,000 women received treatment for acute malnutrition; and 32,000 people received non-food items including blankets and warm clothes for winter, UN News reported.
Meanwhile the United States would not be formally recognising the Taliban, but would be providing humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, announced Taliban following talks in Qatar.
The Doha talks were the first face-to-face meetings between senior representatives of the Taliban and a US delegation since American troops withdrew from Afghanistan in late August. Citing statement, the Taliban said that their discussions “went well.”
The statement said the US agreed to provide humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, while the Taliban also said that they would “facilitate principled movement of foreign nationals”, The Hill reported.
On Saturday (local time), a State Department spokesperson said that one of the US’ key priorities was the “continued safe passage out of Afghanistan of US and other foreign nationals and Afghans to whom we have a special commitment who seek to leave the country.”
According to The Hill, the State Department spokesperson said that “this meeting is not about granting recognition or conferring legitimacy.”
Despite promises from the Taliban that it would not allow for terrorism to fester in the country, the spokesperson’s remarks followed a deadly suicide bombing at a mosque in Afghanistan’s Kunduz that killed over 40 people and injured many others on Friday — an attack that ISIS-K later took responsibility for.
The delegations of the Taliban and the US have held their first meeting in Qatar’s capital Doha, in a bid to turn the “new page on their relationship”. (ANI)
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