The United Nations Security Council voted Thursday to expand support and financial aid in Afghanistan – despite the country being controlled by the hardline Islamist Taliban terrorist group.
While the majority of the developed world has shunned Taliban-run Afghanistan, the U.N. opted to further develop their presence in the region devastated by the August 2021 Taliban take over, and the subsequent end of aid from wealthy nations.
The U.N. decision came after a 30-minute meeting.
Nearly 80 per cent of the previous administration’s public spending budget, which was used to fund the police, schools and hospitals, was provided by the international community and has since been suspended due to the regime change.
A Taliban fighter sits in the cockpit of an abandoned Afghan Air Force aircraft at the airport in Kabul on August 31, 2021. (Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images)
The U.N.’s resolution – which avoided explicitly using the word ‘Taliban’ – enables the globalist organization to renew work in the region, with only Russia abstaining from the vote, France 24 reports.
The resolution aims to increase U.N. operations and involvement in humanitarian and political concerns in Afghanistan, alongside pushing for improved human rights such as for journalists, religious minorities, women and children.
The United Kingdom’s representative at the U.N. Security Council insisted if the Taliban wished for further support they must, “demonstrate that extremist groups are no longer able to flourish in the country”.
Russia’s U.N. delegate abstained from the vote as he insisted that the U.N. did not have consent from Afghanistan’s government to carry out activities in the region and suggested the current approach could become the “United Nations mission impossible”, and emphasised an approach with the Taliban should be pursued.
The Taliban have however welcomed the security council’s decision with spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid saying on Friday: “We consider the extension of the mandate of UNAMA [United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan] as a good step and want them to work effectively for solving humanitarian and other problems in Afghanistan. We will coordinate and cooperate with them”.
Alongside their resumed activities, the United Nations called for $5 billion to be given to Afghanistan in January, to help counter the devastated infrastructure and poverty caused by the fact that since 1979 Afghanistan has only been at peace during the Taliban’s oppressive rule from 1996 to 2001.
Taliban fighters patrol along a street during a demonstration by people to condemn the recent protest by the Afghan women’s rights activists, in Kabul on January 21, 2022. (MOHD RASFAN/AFP via Getty)
The World Food Programme estimates currently “1 in 3 people are hungry [12.97 million] and 2 million children are malnourished” in Afghanistan.
In response to this humanitarian crisis, the U.S. taxpayer as of February 2022 has contributed over $780 million in aid to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan since October 2020.
The World Bank also announced on the 1st of March that they will be providing $1 billion in aid to the region via third parties – such as international NGOs – to “support the delivery of essential basic services, protect vulnerable Afghans, help preserve human capital and key economic and social services, and reduce the need for humanitarian assistance in the future”.
However, despite stipulations being put on aid that Afghanistan must develop Western values, reports have surfaced of a return of public executions, torture of those branded as opposition and a resurgence of the severe oppression of women and Sharia Law, in Afghanistan.