SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a U.S.-proposed resolution to help humanitarian air reach desperate Afghans.
The Security Council resolution allows aid to flow into the country for one year without violating international sanctions aimed at isolating the Taliban, according to AFP.
Afghanistan’s economic crisis accelerated after the Taliban seized power in August, as the former Western-backed government collapsed and the last U.S. troops withdrew.
Since then, billions of dollars in aid and assets have been frozen by the West in what the U.N. has described as an “unprecedented fiscal shock” to the aid-dependent Afghan economy.
“We appreciate it [as] it can help Afghanistan’s economic situation,” AFP quoted Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid as saying.
Mujahid added that he hoped the international community would also “speed up” removal of crippling economic and banking sanctions imposed on entities linked to the group.
But the aid is “not a blank check for any organization to disregard its international obligations,” U.S. deputy U.N. ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis said, referring to the Taliban.
The United States also announced additional steps on Wednesday easing sanctions against the Taliban to allow aid, updating guidance to make clear that exports of goods and cash transfers are allowed as long as they do not go to individuals targeted by U.S. sanctions.
Having designated the Taliban as a terrorist group for years, Washington has ordered its U.S. assets frozen and barred Americans from dealing with them.
The U.S. Department of Treasury on Wednesday issued three general licenses aimed at easing humanitarian aid flows into Afghanistan, Reuters reported.
Two of the licenses allow U.S. officials and those of certain international organizations, such as the United Nations, to engage in transactions involving the Taliban or Haqqani Network for official business, according to Reuters.
A third license gives non-governmental organizations (NGOs) protection from U.S. sanctions on the Taliban and the Haqqani Network for work on certain activities, including humanitarian projects, the news agency said.
Reuters cited a senior U.S. administration official as saying that the Taliban would have to take action to prevent Afghanistan’s economy from contracting further.
“What we can attempt to do, what we’re going to work to do, is to mitigate the humanitarian crisis by getting resources to the Afghan people, and these general licenses will allow us to allow organizations that are doing this work to do exactly that,” the official told reporters.
The United States and other donors cut financial assistance, and more than $9 billion in Afghanistan’s hard currency assets were frozen.
The United Nations says nearly 23 million people – about 55% of the population – are facing extreme levels of hunger, with nearly 9 million at risk of famine as winter takes hold.
“We will continue to support efforts by our partners to scale up assistance and deliver necessary relief during this moment of particular need,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
In a separate bid to address the crisis, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution exempting donors, aid groups and financial institutions involved in humanitarian assistance from U.N. asset freezes on leaders of the Taliban and associated entities.
The exemption is “solely for the provision of humanitarian assistance and other activities that support basic human needs in Afghanistan which the council will review in one year,” Jeffrey DeLaurentis, a senior adviser to the U.S. mission to the United Nations, said in urging approval of the measure.
(Esta Media Network/Agencies)
