UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Afghanistan is facing its worst drought in two decades;
Which made 9 million people on the brink of starvation, stressing that the failure to act at the present time to provide assistance to the population there will cost the international community and the region a heavy price.
This came in a speech delivered by the Secretary-General today, Wednesday, before a session of the UN Security Council on "the situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security."
Guterres added that the collapse of the Afghan economy may lead to a mass exodus from the country, stressing that "daily life for Afghans has become a frozen hell, as families gather in temporary tents and burn their possessions for warmth, and some families even sell their children to buy food."
He called on the Secretary-General to "suspend the rules and conditions (international financing) that restrict not only Afghanistan's economy, but also our life-saving humanitarian operations."
He welcomed the Security Council's adoption of a humanitarian exemption from the United Nations sanctions regime against Afghanistan, noting that Afghans are "in dire need now of peace, hope and assistance."
Sanctions relief
At the same session, the UN Special Representative in Afghanistan Deborah Lyons said that the Taliban should fulfill the path of cooperation with the international community, calling on the council to ease sanctions and restrictions that prevent the delivery of aid to Afghans.
The UN official said that "sanctions that prevent the full delivery of basic services lead to starvation and create a liquidity crisis that does not enable banks to operate."
Today, dozens of women gathered in Kabul in a demonstration allowed by the Taliban government in support of the movement and to demand the West to release the frozen assets of Afghanistan as the humanitarian crisis in the country worsens.
On December 22, 2021, the UN Security Council adopted a US resolution that paved the way for humanitarian aid to reach Afghans in need, and to prevent funds from reaching the Taliban, or to entities or individuals dealing with the movement's leaders.
And in mid-August, the Taliban movement took control of Afghanistan completely, in parallel with a US military withdrawal from the country that was completed at the end of the same month.
The countries of the world are still reluctant to recognize the rule of the Taliban and link this to the behavior of the movement, and the United States has frozen more than $9 billion in Afghan foreign assets.