NEW YORK: Underlining the tough choices available in Afghanistan, UN Special Representative Deborah Lyons said continued global engagement and commitment to the country’s people can help steer the situation to its best possible outcome.
Speaking at a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) briefing on Afghanistan, the UN Special Representative and head of the UN’s assistance mission in Afghanistan, said the new reality is that the lives of millions of Afghans will depend on how the Taliban will choose to govern.
The world will urgently need to devise a “modus vivendi” to allow billions of dollars in frozen donor funds, to flow into Afghanistan’s fragile economy, she added.
Citing reports of killings, crackdowns on women’s freedoms and other rights violations by the country’s new Taliban-led administration; she added that the UN will also need to decide how to engage with high-level members of the Taliban’s de facto Government.
Following the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul on August 15, the world witnessed first scenes of chaos, and then images of protests around Afghanistan, UN News reported. “These scenes, watched around the world … show that the Taliban have won power, but not yet the confidence of all the Afghan people,” said Lyons.
As the Council and the global community now ask themselves how to respond, Lyons stressed that there are no “comfortable” answers. “Those who hoped for, and urged, inclusivity will be disappointed,” she said, noting that no women, minority representatives or non-Taliban individuals have been named as part of the de facto Government.
Lyons also expressed concern that, despite many Taliban statements granting general amnesties to former members of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces and officials of the administration of former President Ashraf Ghani, reports are emerging of house-to-house searches and seizures by Taliban officials.
Emphasizing the UN’s commitment to stay and deliver assistance and support to the people of Afghanistan, Lyons said that means it must engage with the Taliban, including on ways to allow money to flow into Afghanistan.
“The inevitable effect, however, will be a severe economic downturn that could throw millions into poverty and hunger, may generate a massive wave of refugees from Afghanistan, and set Afghanistan back for generations,” the Special Representative warned. She also added that the UN’s commitment to delivering to the people of Afghanistan means that they must engage with the Taliban on operational and security issues. (ANI)
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