Do US-led sanctions exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan? | News

International aid organizations and experts say U.S. sanctions against the Taliban government are hurting the people of Afghanistan, and have called for “explicit humanitarian exceptions” to help “prevent the catastrophe.”

next Owned by the Taliban On August 15 in Afghanistan, the aid-dependent country was cut off from international financial institutions, while the U.S. froze nearly $ 10 billion in its assets, causing a banking crisis.

Millions of dollars in international aid was also stopped due to sanctions.

The UN and other aid agencies are trying to navigate the sanctions to give the country the help it needs, with more than half of Afghanistan’s more than 38 million people facing food shortages during the harsh winter months.

“Other entities that impose sanctions like the U.S. government and the UN Security Council (UNSC) should do everything they can to give Afghans access to the humanitarian assistance they are entitled to,” said Eileen McCarthy, Advocacy Manager. Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).

“They must ensure that sanctions and other restrictive measures are in accordance with international humanitarian law and human rights and do not interfere with impartial humanitarian activities,” he told Al Jazeera.

… You cannot kidnap the entire population of Afghanistan.

Dominik Stillhart, ICRC

“Humanitarian disaster can be prevented”

The Afghan economy has been in power for more than 100 days since the Taliban took office almost fallen, The UN envoy to Afghanistan imposed financial sanctions on him. Deborah Lions told the UNSC last week that the country’s “humanitarian catastrophe” was “preventable”.

There have been alarming reports that public hospitals are unable to pay for essential health supplies or pay staff salaries, and that families are offering to marry their young daughters to help them survive on the price of the bride.

The Taliban government has not been recognized by any country or the United Nations prohibited foreign currency among other measures to stimulate the economy, but the sudden drying up of millions of dollars in aid flows crippled banks and businesses and raised food and fuel prices.

Although they blame the remaining crisis on the Taliban’s failure to find a political solution, experts say the Afghanistan crisis was the result of international sanctions, and millions of dollars of support from the previous Western-backed Afghan government became inaccessible to the Taliban Islamic Emirate.

“The lack of total liquidity in the Afghan system is the result of disrupted direct bilateral aid and the freezing of central bank money after the departure of international troops,” said Dominik Stillhart, director of operations for the International Committee of the Red Cross. (ICRC), referring to the withdrawal of U.S.-led NATO troops after the 20-year war.

“There is a crisis of political legitimacy … but you cannot kidnap the entire population of Afghanistan,” he said, explaining that it was impossible for an aid organization to operate in a country without de facto authority.

“If you want to provide or maintain basic services, you have to work with the system in place,” Stillhart told Al Jazeera.

Adam Weinstein, a research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, agreed: “It was one thing to navigate sanctions against the Taliban when they were not a de facto government. But now they are sitting in Kabul and the question is, ‘How do you do business or support in a country?’ without touching the government? ”

Dependence on aid

Sulaiman Bin Shah, Afghanistan’s former deputy minister of industry and trade, said until August 15 that the expected collapse of the Afghan economy was due to the high level of dependence on international aid.

“Over the last 20 years Afghanistan has been so dependent on aid and donor money that the economy has somehow been artificially created on that premise,” Bin Shah said. “Now that money is gone.”

The EU delegation has expressed its readiness to provide a large grant for direct benefit #Afghan people … “humanitarian +” focused on organizations and NGOs, using the best possible delivery mechanisms to ensure essential services #IEA https://t.co/6a9mS4SiD4 https://t.co/tHLi3D1ON4 pic.twitter.com/fIhLtvJLA4

– Osama Bin Javaid (@osamabinjavaid) November 29, 2021

Weinstein, who also served as a U.S. Marine in Afghanistan, said the country’s infrastructure and economy have been built by Washington and the international community, which cannot continue without them.

“It is dependent on aid from Afghanistan and the subsidies account for 75% of public spending. That made the country dependent on the international community’s willingness to continue with that support, ”he told Al Jazeera.

Recognizing the need to avoid sanctions in Afghanistan, the ICRC said it has continued to provide humanitarian assistance using “creative solutions” to channel funds directly to the health, education and municipal services sectors.

“The solution we found was to channel salaries directly into the pockets of 550,000 staff and pay expenses through the ministry,” Stillhart said, referring to 18 hospitals across the country that perform half a million consultations a month.

However, he said more needs to be done, calling for “explicit humanitarian exceptions that will allow us to provide explicit humanitarian assistance under the UNSC regime without fear of violating UN sanctions.”