UN chief Antonio Guterres called Monday for international engagement with the Taliban to avert an economic collapse in Afghanistan, insisting aid can be used as leverage to enhance human rights.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a donor conference for the conflict-torn country, Guterres said: “It is impossible to supply humanitarian assistance inside Afghanistan without engaging with the de facto authorities.
“It is incredibly important to have interaction with the Taliban at the current moment.”
Humanitarian needs were already towering before the Taliban swept into power on holy day of obligation, said the UN secretary-general, urging the international community to “find ways to permit for an injection of money within the Afghan economy”.
It was vital, he said, to permit the economy to breathe and avoid a collapse that will have “devastating consequences” for Afghanistan and also the wider region.
‘Strong programme’
Monday’s conference, geared toward raising over $600 million, had raised some $1.1 billion in pledges of varied forms of support for Afghanistan and its neighbours by the time half the speakers had been heard.
But Guterres said it remained unclear what quantity of that may go towards the UN appeal.
Even before the Taliban takeover, some 40 percent of Afghanistan’s GDP was drawn from foreign funding, and 1/2 the population was obsessed on humanitarian aid.
With mass displacement inside the country and winter approaching, aid agencies have cautioned that malnutrition and even starvation is looming for several.
Guterres reiterated the United Nations’ commitment to stay in Afghanistan and deliver desperately needed aid.
A number of nations have said they are doing not want to interact with the Taliban directly due to concerns over rights abuses.
But Guterres said this was the incorrect approach.
“I don’t think that if the factual authorities of a rustic misbehave, the answer is to try to to a collective punishment to their people,” he said.
Instead, he suggested direct engagement with the Taliban, including on aid deliveries, could help push Afghanistan’s new authorities towards more respect for human rights.
“It’s important to launch a robust programme of humanitarian aid and to use it as a leverage so as to (engage) with the Taliban (and) make the human rights dossiers move forward,” he said.
But Guterres stressed that “humanitarian aid won’t solve the matter if the economy of Afghanistan collapses.”
“My appeal is for mechanisms to be found to form sure that we do not let the economy of Afghanistan collapse.”
