UNITED NATIONS (Dispatches) -- Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations has warned against withholding the humanitarian aid that is direly needed by millions of people in Afghanistan, for political purposes.
“The situation remains dire, with an estimated 28 million people projected to require humanitarian and protection assistance in 2023,” Amir Saied Iravani told a United Nations Security Council briefing on Afghanistan.
“However, we must be cautious of the politicization or exploitation of humanitarian aid for political purposes,” Iravani said. “Such practices would harm the Afghan people who depend on this aid for their survival.”
The ambassador said it was also crucial that the release of frozen assets belonging to the Afghan people is expedited and not subject to political conditions. “This is critical for restoring the Afghan economy and saving lives.”
Afghanistan has about $9 billion in frozen assets overseas, including $7 billion in the United States. The rest is mostly in Germany, the United Arab Emirates, and Switzerland.
“To ensure that the Afghan people receive the support they need, humanitarian aid must remain impartial and unconditional,” Iravani stated.
He said Iran is hosting more than five million Afghan people, despite receiving minimum support from the international community and donor countries and facing challenges caused by the inhumane unilateral sanctions of the United States and its Western allies.
The ambassador, meanwhile, repeated Iran’s call for formation of an inclusive government in Afghanistan, which has been under the Taliban’s control since the U.S. withdrawal of its forces from the Central Asian country in 2021.