The Taliban has demanded direct talks with the international community in order to obtain humanitarian aid for Afghanistan, according to a statement issued by a delegation on a visit to Geneva, while the United Nations is studying the creation of a system to alleviate the humanitarian and economic crises in the country.

The Taliban delegation, composed of about 10 members and present in Switzerland for talks with NGOs, appealed to the "international community to move forward with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan on the basis of transparency and accountability, and to respond to the need for humanitarian assistance."

The United Nations has been calling for months to ease the sanctions imposed on Kabul since August 2021 to avoid the collapse of the country.


A Taliban delegation headed by Minister of Health Kalandar Abbad was invited to Geneva by the non-governmental organization "Apple de Genève", which campaigns to protect civilians in conflict areas and has been active for years in Afghanistan.

The visit was also an opportunity for the Taliban delegation to meet the head of the World Health Organization and hold talks with the International Red Cross and European diplomats, including representatives of the Swiss Foreign Ministry.

Switzerland said on Thursday that the visit "does not constitute legitimacy or recognition" of the Taliban, stressing that it clearly expressed its expectations regarding respect for human rights and international humanitarian law and the protection of the civilian population.


swap

In a related development, Reuters confirmed that an internal United Nations memorandum revealed that the international organization aims this month to create a system for the exchange of aid in millions of dollars in the Afghan currency, in a plan aimed at alleviating the impact of humanitarian and economic crises while not passing money through the movement of funds. Taliban.

A UN explanatory note written last month outlines the so-called humanitarian exchange programme, which it described as a "badly needed" mechanism.

The United Nations has warned that more than half of Afghanistan's 39 million people suffer from severe hunger, and that the economy, education and social services are on the verge of collapse.

"The overall goal is to start and implement the Humanitarian Exchange Program in February, [however] before the full launch of the program, we seek to facilitate a set of experimental trade-offs to demonstrate exactly how the mechanism will work," the memo said.


UN officials and humanitarian organizations warn that the program can only be a temporary measure until the Afghan Central Bank begins independent work to release about $9 billion in foreign reserves frozen abroad.

But it is unclear when that will happen, the reserves withheld by the United States are hamstrung by legal process, and Western governments are reluctant to release the funds.

The program will allow the United Nations, which is seeking $4.4 billion in humanitarian aid this year, and humanitarian organizations to access large sums of the national currency (Afghani) held by private companies in the country.

In return, the United Nations will use the aid money, valued at tens of millions of dollars, to pay off those companies' debts to foreign creditors, thereby supporting the faltering private sector and bringing in vital imports.

"The flow of funds under the program will not require any funds to be moved across the Afghan border," the UN note said.