NEW YORK – Afghanistan is at risk of “imminent hunger” with winterapproaching and services disrupted by the return to power of the Taliban, aUN official has warned.
Natalia Kanem, director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), saidvia video that the situation in the country was dire.
“It would not be an exaggeration to say” that at least a third ofAfghanistan’s population of around 33 million is affected by “imminenthunger,” Kanem warned.
Harsh winters, disrupting the ability to transport supplies to isolatedareas of the mountainous country, plus the coronavirus pandemic willaggravate an already complicated situation, she added.
“There is a lot of anxiety over how we’re going to deliver health care,where the next meal is going to come from,” Kanem told AFP from the UNFPAheadquarters in New York. The doctor from Panama warned that women andgirls would bear the worst of it. “It is urgent, for women and girls inparticular who were already suffering. This is one of the countries withthe highest death during childbirth and pregnancy rates.
‘A third of Afghanistan’s population of around 33 million is affected byimminent hunger’
“We cannot underscore enough that even during a transitional period, womenand girls have human rights and these are to be respected,” she said. Kanemrepeated calls made by the international community to the Taliban, whoswept to power last month as the United States withdrew its last troops,ending Washington’s 20-year war there.
“The women of Afghanistan have made clear over years that they want theireducation, they want their health care, and that they’re also ready,willing and able to design programs and to be able to lead in theircommunities,” she said.
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Taliban leaders have tried to portray the group as more moderate than whenit last ran Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. Then, women were banned fromschool or work and only allowed to leave home with a male chaperone.
They have promised to change, saying they will respect women’s rightswithin the framework of Islamic sharia law, but many remain sceptical. Butnot a single woman was appointed to the provisional government and theIslamists seem to be incrementally stripping away Afghans’ freedoms.
Kanem notes that in a country ravaged by decades of conflict, many women,particularly in areas most affected by violence, are the sole breadwinners.“We’re all anxiously hoping that there will be regularity and ability ofdelivery of goods” to people in small communities where many of the UNPFA’sstaff are women, she said. “We have said that we want to be able tomaintain a functioning health system.”
“(It’s) pretty challenging right now with the airport having been closed,with certain professionals who have left the country,” Kanem added.
She warned that if the health system breaks down, that’s going to spell“complete disaster,” but added that for the most part the agency’s familyhealth centers have remained open. The UN on Wednesday released $45 millionin emergency aid to support Afghanistan’s health system.
