Afghanistan has run out of money. Soon you can get money for emergency aid, believes Norwegian Refugee Council Jan Egeland.
—
Taliban-led Afghanistan is threatened with collapse. The hospitals are filled with malnourished children.
Aid organizations that are ready to help do not receive money from Afghan banks. Tens of billions of kroner that Afghanistan has left abroad have been frozen.
Talks between the Taliban and the United States in Doha last weekend, however, give hope for a speedy solution.
– I hope and believe that there can be an agreement between the Americans and the Taliban, says Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Egeland was in Afghanistan in late September, met with two of the Taliban’s top leaders and saw a country on the brink of collapse. Hundreds of thousands of government employees, such as doctors, nurses and teachers, have not been paid since May.
– Hoping for good news
NRC has money in Afghan banks, but since the Taliban took power in mid-August, it has not been possible to withdraw more than small amounts. They have spent more than NOK 40 million on emergency aid that is now being imported from Pakistan. But in order to avoid collapse, one must start the banking system and pay public employees in hospitals and schools.
It requires agreement between the two main actors, namely the Taliban and the US government. It’s not very easy. Both because the Taliban seized power by force and because they seem to continue to discriminate against women and minorities.
The Taliban are breaking the promises they have made to Afghan women and girls, whose dreams are shattered, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned on Monday in a statement.
–Despite this, there is a willingness to help the Afghan people.
– I hope for good news from the meeting between the Taliban and the Americans, Egeland says after talking to senior officials from several countries.
According to Egeland, the US UN Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, has confirmed that even though they are dissatisfied with the Taliban, they are working to find solutions because it is now a matter of life and death.
– If in the course of a week we get the opportunity to get financial transfers started, then we can do a lot over the next few weeks. We must get money into Afghanistan this week, says Egeland.
New meetings between the Taliban, the EU and the United States
A delegation from the EU and the USA met Taliban representatives face to face on Tuesday, reports AFP. Access to humanitarian aid organizations was among those on the agenda.
What is being discussed internationally are solutions to channel money into Afghanistan. Not only for pure humanitarian aid, but also for the continuation of essential public services, in the first instance health and eventually education, a source states.
1 of 2Photo: Afshin Ismaeli
The Afghanistan Committee has many aid operations in Afghanistan. They are positive that the United States is willing to resume humanitarian aid.
– We hope this opens up for the EU and other donors to follow so that the obstacles to effective relief work cease, writes Secretary General Liv Kjølseth in an e-mail to Aftenposten.
She believes that the United States, the IMF and the World Bank must ensure that humanitarian aid is channeled through already established structures.
– This is important to prevent a further destabilization of the country as we can not see that there is a management alternative to the Taliban now, Kjølseth writes.
Norway has been active
Norway’s assistance to the Afghan authorities has stopped. But NOK 100 million has been reprioritised from long-term assistance to humanitarian efforts.
– Like other Western donors, Norway is looking at the possibility of continuing efforts that are crucial for the Afghan population, including health and education, says outgoing Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide (H).
–She states that in that case this will happen through non-governmental and multilateral organizations and will not be direct support or recognition of the current regime.
Norwegian diplomats along with other representatives of the international community met the Taliban in Doha before the weekend. They have also had other meetings with Taliban representatives since seizing power in August.
– These are contacts that have been built up over time, first and foremost in Doha, says the outgoing Norwegian Foreign Minister.
–
