UNITED NATIONS (Xinhua) – Witnessing an enormity of human
suffering during an Afghanistan visit, an international panel of emergency experts called for urgent, life-saving action, United Nations humanitarians said on Friday.
The group of eight senior representatives of UN agencies and non-governmental organizations issued their plea after spending five days in the war-torn country, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.
“People’s reserves are exhausted, forcing many into harmful coping mechanisms to survive, including child marriages and child labor,” the office said.
“Women and girls are particularly affected with many of their rights under threat,” the office said.
More than 24 million people, or 59 percent of the country’s population, now require life-saving assistance, 30 percent more than in 2021, it said.
U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to confiscate foreign reserves of Afghanistan and distribute them among the families of 9/11 victims have deteriorated the situation in the country.
Thousands of Afghans have taken to the streets to denounce the move.
Biden signed an executive order earlier this month, allowing half of the $7 billion in frozen assets from Afghanistan’s central bank to be distributed among the 9/11 claimants.
The funds, held in the U.S., were frozen following the sweeping Taliban takeover of Kabul last August and the botched exit of the U.S.-led allied forces after 20-year long military occupation.
It has spawned what the UN agencies have termed a worst humanitarian catastrophe in recent history.
Almost 24 million people in Afghanistan – or 60% of the population – suffer from acute hunger, while millions have already been displaced.
Sayed Abdul Raziq Danesh, head of the Bamyan Disabled People’s Union and one of the organizers of the rally, called on the U.S. government to release assets belonging to Afghans as soon as possible.