UN envoy Deborah Lyons meets with Taliban officials, stresses on aid and coalition govt

Deborah Lyons, the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ Special Representative for Afghanistan on September 15 met with Siraj Haqqani, the Taliban-led government’s interior minister of Afghanistan. According to an official statement by the UN on Wednesday, Lyons and Haqqani met in Kabul on Wednesday with the UN official stressing the “absolute necessity for all UN & humanitarian personnel in Afghanistan to be able to work without intimidation or obstruction to deliver vital aid & conduct work for Afghan people.” She earlier met with Taliban officials in Qatar where she held talks with Taliban’s Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai & international partners on urgent humanitarian needs.

Meanwhile, the UN office in Kabul also said that during the meeting, they discussed the importance of humanitarian assistance and respect for the rights of women and girls along with the formation of a ‘coalition government.’ The statement, shared on Twitter, further added, “Meeting also addressed requirement of mutual trust in collective efforts to improve the challenging situation in #Afghanistan, not least in restarting the economy, ensuring civil servants & health workers are paid, as well as medicines & food reaching those most in need.”

UN stated, “They also discussed the importance of an inclusive government, to enhance Afghanistan’s ability to respond to the daunting economic & development challenges & to ensure the delivery of much needed humanitarian assistance with international support.”

Guterres announced $20 mn from UN CERF

Earlier, on September 13, the UN Secretary-General announced a $20 million allocation from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (UN CERF) to support the humanitarian operations in Afghanistan after the Taliban control. He also called on the members to help and “boost humanitarian access, including the airbridge with Kabul and other hubs in Afghanistan.” The UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) established an airbridge from Islamabad into Kandahar, Mazar and Herat, with operations up and running since the end of August.

Guterres also said that the “people of Afghanistan are facing a humanitarian calamity” and convened a high-level Ministerial Meeting on the Humanitarian Situation in Afghanistan on Monday. According to the statement by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) published on Monday, the meeting highlighted the crucial needs in the war-ravaged nation. It also underscored “the urgent funding support and actions" which are required by global partners to support the Afghan nationals especially "at the time of need."

IMAGE: unama.unmissions.org