The Taliban’s Ministry of Foreign affairs announced Wednesday that the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” will send 10 million Afghanis in aid (about $111,000) to Turkey, and half that amount to Syria, “on the basis of shared humanity and Islamic brotherhood” after Monday’s extremely destructive earthquakes.
The announcement offered few details about what form this tiny “relief package” will take, but the Foreign Ministry added that medical and rescue personnel from Afghanistan were standing by to assist earthquake victims. The Taliban junta urged Afghan citizens living in Turkey to assist relief efforts.
Rural Afghanistan suffered a powerful earthquake in June 2022, killing at least 1,000 people and injuring 1,500 more, according to Taliban-controlled media. The Taliban regime pleaded for international assistance, which the international community provided, despite its mounting anger over the Taliban’s failure to honor its human rights commitments.
Afghanistan remains a humanitarian disaster area, with millions of displaced people suffering from starvation and sickness. This dire situation is made worse by the Taliban mismanaging national resources and interfering with the operation of international aid agencies, such as by refusing to allow women to work for them.
In this August 19, 2021, file photo, Taliban fighters display their flag on patrol in Kabul, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
Several humanitarian organizations suspended operations in Afghanistan after the ban on women, although conditions for Afghan civilians are so bleak that three of them relented and went back to work in mid-January, after receiving vague assurances that “female staff will be safe and can work without obstruction.”
Last week, the U.N. Human Rights Commission begged the Taliban to let women join relief efforts for impoverished civilians after a “savage winter” killed at least 166 people.
A woman walks down at a path during a cold winter day in Fayzabad of Badakhshan province in Afghanistan on January 18, 2023. (AFP)
“Last winter, we managed to survive. I don’t know if we can do this indefinitely, not with these bans,” warned U.N. Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Martin Griffiths.
As with the NGOs that felt obliged to resume their efforts in January, Griffiths said the Taliban promised to deliver “guidelines” for allowing women to work in humanitarian operations.
Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator at the United Nations, Martin Griffiths, speaks during a press conference in Mogadishu on September 5, 2022. (HASSAN ALI ELMI/AFP via Getty Images)
“Let’s see if these guidelines do come through,” said Griffiths. “Hopefully we won’t wait too long. Because every day that goes by without proper functioning humanitarian aid is not a good day for the people of Afghanistan.”
The wait may drag on for a while longer. On Friday, the U.N. said it was “concerned” that an Afghan academic named Ismail Mashal was “mercilessly beaten and taken away” for handing out free books to women and girls in Kabul.
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