The UN's humanitarian chief called on donors to restore funding for economic development and immediately provide $770 million to help Afghans pull through the winter as the US argued with Russia and China over who should pay.
Martin Griffiths told the UN Security Council on Monday that Afghanistan faced deepening poverty, with six million people at risk of famine, due to humanitarian, economic, climate and financial crises.
Conflict, poverty, climate shocks and food insecurity “have long been a sad reality” in Afghanistan, but he said what made the current situation “so critical” was the halt to large-scale development aid since the Taliban took over a year ago.
More than half the country's population — about 24 million people — need assistance and close to 19 million are facing acute levels of food insecurity, Mr Griffiths said.
He said there were concerns that the figures would soon become worse due to winter, which is expected to drive up already high fuel and food prices.
Despite the challenges, he said UN agencies and their NGO partners had mounted “an unprecedented response” over the past year, reaching about 23 million people.
But he said $614 million was urgently required to prepare for winter, including money to repair and upgrade shelters, as well as provide warm clothes and blankets.
An additional $154 million is needed to secure food and other supplies before the weather cuts access to certain areas.
However, Mr Griffiths said humanitarian aid would “never be able to replace the provision of system-wide services to 40 million people across the country”.
The Taliban “have no budget to invest in their own future,” he said, and “it’s clear that some development support needs to be started”.
With more than 70 per cent of Afghan’s living in rural areas, Mr Griffiths said millions of lives and livelihoods would be at risk and the country’s capacity to produce food imperilled if agriculture and livestock production are not protected.
The country’s banking and liquidity crisis, and the extreme difficulty of international financial transactions must also be tackled, he said.
“The consequences of inaction on both the humanitarian and development fronts will be catastrophic and difficult to reverse,” Mr Griffiths warned.
Russia called the UN Security Council meeting on the eve of the first anniversary of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and its ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, sharply criticised the “ignominious 20-year campaign” by the US and its Nato allies.
He claimed they did nothing to build up the Afghan economy and said their presence only strengthened the country’s status “as a hotbed of terrorism” and narcotics production and distribution.
Mr Nebenzia also accused the US and its allies of abandoning Afghans to face “ruin, poverty, terrorism, hunger and other challenges”.
“Instead of acknowledging their own mistakes and supporting the reconstruction of the destroyed country,” he said, they blocked Afghan financial resources and disconnected its central bank from Swift, the dominant system for global financial transactions.
China’s UN ambassador Zhang Jun also accused the US and its allies of “evading responsibility and abandoning the Afghan people” by cutting off development aid, freezing Afghan assets and imposing “political isolation and blockade”.
US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield accused the Taliban of imposing policies that “repress and starve the Afghan people, instead of protecting them”, and of increasing taxes on critically needed assistance.
She asked how the Taliban — which has not be recognised by a single country — expect to build a relationship with the rest of the world when they provided a safe haven for Al Qaeda leader Ayman Al Zawahiri, in Kabul's city centre.
Al Zawahiri was killed in a US drone strike on July 31.
Nonetheless, Ms Thomas-Greenfield said the US was the world’s leading donor in Afghanistan, providing more than $775 million in humanitarian aid to Afghans in the country and the region over the past year.
As for Afghanistan's frozen assets, US President Joe Biden announced in February that the $7 billion in the US was being divided — with $3.5 billion allocated to a UN trust fund to provide aid to Afghans and the remaining half set aside for families of American victims of the 9/11 terror attacks in the US.
“No country that is serious about containing terrorism in Afghanistan would advocate to give the Taliban instantaneous, unconditional access to billions in assets that belong to the Afghan people,” Ms Thomas-Greenfield said.
To Russia’s claims that Afghanistan’s problems are the fault of the West and not the Taliban, Ms Thomas-Greenfield asked, “What are you doing to help other than rehash the past and criticise others?”
She said Russia had contributed only $2 million to the UN humanitarian appeal for Afghanistan and China’s contributions “have been similarly underwhelming”.
“If you want to talk about how Afghanistan needs help, that’s fine. But we humbly suggest you put your money where your mouth is,” Ms Thomas-Greenfield said.
Russia’s Mr Nebenzia took the floor again, calling the suggestion “stunning”.
“We are being asked to pay for the reconstruction of a country whose economy was essentially destroyed by 20 years of US and Nato occupation? You are the ones who need to pay for your mistakes,” he said.
“But first of all, you need to return to the Afghan people the money that has been stolen from them.”
Ms Thomas-Greenfield had the last word.
“If the Russian Federation believes that there was an economy in Afghanistan to be destroyed, it has been destroyed by the Taliban,” she said.
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Wayne Rooney's career
Everton (2002-2004)
- Appearances: 48
- Goals: 17
Manchester United (2004-2017)
- Appearances: 496
- Goals: 253
England (2003-)
- Appearances: 119
- Goals: 53
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Clinicy%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202017%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Prince%20Mohammed%20Bin%20Abdulrahman%2C%20Abdullah%20bin%20Sulaiman%20Alobaid%20and%20Saud%20bin%20Sulaiman%20Alobaid%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Riyadh%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2025%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20HealthTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETotal%20funding%20raised%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20More%20than%20%2410%20million%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Middle%20East%20Venture%20Partners%2C%20Gate%20Capital%2C%20Kafou%20Group%20and%20Fadeed%20Investment%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Look north
BBC business reporters, like a new raft of government officials, are being removed from the national and international hub of London and surely the quality of their work must suffer.
Keane on …
Liverpool’s Uefa Champions League bid: “They’re great. With the attacking force they have, for me, they’re certainly one of the favourites. You look at the teams left in it - they’re capable of scoring against anybody at any given time. Defensively they’ve been good, so I don’t see any reason why they couldn’t go on and win it.”
Mohamed Salah’s debut campaign at Anfield: “Unbelievable. He’s been phenomenal. You can name the front three, but for him on a personal level, he’s been unreal. He’s been great to watch and hopefully he can continue now until the end of the season - which I’m sure he will, because he’s been in fine form. He’s been incredible this season.”
Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s instant impact at former club LA Galaxy: “Brilliant. It’s been a great start for him and for the club. They were crying out for another big name there. They were lacking that, for the prestige of LA Galaxy. And now they have one of the finest stars. I hope they can go win something this year.”
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Rating: 4/5
The specs: 2018 Ford Mustang GT
Price, base / as tested: Dh204,750 / Dh241,500
Engine: 5.0-litre V8
Gearbox: 10-speed automatic
Power: 460hp @ 7,000rpm
Torque: 569Nm @ 4,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 10.3L / 100km
What are the influencer academy modules?
- Mastery of audio-visual content creation.
- Cinematography, shots and movement.
- All aspects of post-production.
- Emerging technologies and VFX with AI and CGI.
- Understanding of marketing objectives and audience engagement.
- Tourism industry knowledge.
- Professional ethics.
The%20specs%3A%202024%20Mercedes%20E200
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Expert advice
“Join in with a group like Cycle Safe Dubai or TrainYAS, where you’ll meet like-minded people and always have support on hand.”
Stewart Howison, co-founder of Cycle Safe Dubai and owner of Revolution Cycles
“When you sweat a lot, you lose a lot of salt and other electrolytes from your body. If your electrolytes drop enough, you will be at risk of cramping. To prevent salt deficiency, simply add an electrolyte mix to your water.”
Cornelia Gloor, head of RAK Hospital’s Rehabilitation and Physiotherapy Centre
“Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can ride as fast or as far during the summer as you do in cooler weather. The heat will make you expend more energy to maintain a speed that might normally be comfortable, so pace yourself when riding during the hotter parts of the day.”
Chandrashekar Nandi, physiotherapist at Burjeel Hospital in Dubai
ORDER OF PLAY ON SHOW COURTS
Centre Court - 4pm (UAE)
Gael Monfils (15) v Kyle Edmund
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Dusan Lajovic v Roger Federer (3)
Court 1 - 4pm
Adam Pavlasek v Novak Djokovic (2)
Dominic Thiem (8) v Gilles Simon
Angelique Kerber (1) v Kirsten Flipkens
Court 2 - 2.30pm
Grigor Dimitrov (13) v Marcos Baghdatis
Agnieszka Radwanska (9) v Christina McHale
Milos Raonic (6) v Mikhail Youzhny
Tsvetana Pironkova v Caroline Wozniacki (5)
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
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Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
CONFIRMED%20LINE-UP
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Four motivational quotes from Alicia's Dubai talk
“The only thing we need is to know that we have faith. Faith and hope in our own dreams. The belief that, when we keep going we’re going to find our way. That’s all we got.”
“Sometimes we try so hard to keep things inside. We try so hard to pretend it’s not really bothering us. In some ways, that hurts us more. You don’t realise how dishonest you are with yourself sometimes, but I realised that if I spoke it, I could let it go.”
“One good thing is to know you’re not the only one going through it. You’re not the only one trying to find your way, trying to find yourself, trying to find amazing energy, trying to find a light. Show all of yourself. Show every nuance. All of your magic. All of your colours. Be true to that. You can be unafraid.”
“It’s time to stop holding back. It’s time to do it on your terms. It’s time to shine in the most unbelievable way. It’s time to let go of negativity and find your tribe, find those people that lift you up, because everybody else is just in your way.”
