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ICRC chief says Afghanistan’s most pressing need is cash
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) President Peter Maurer said this week that Afghanistan’s main problem is not hunger but rather the lack of cash due to economic sanctions.
In an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday, in Dubai, Maurer said Afghanistan is facing a looming humanitarian crisis as aid organizations struggle with ways to pay doctors, nurses and others on the ground because there is currently no way to transfer salaries to bank accounts there.
Maurer’s comments echoed those of the UN’s special representative for Afghanistan, who warned this week that the country is “on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe” and that its collapsing economy is heightening the risk of extremism.
The AP reported that the ICRC is temporarily carrying in bags of cash to Afghanistan and converting dollars into the local currency, the Afghani, in order to pay some of its staffers.
The ICRC has been able to do this with regulatory approval by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, AP reported adding that the ICRC also has an agreement with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) to allow donor-funded payments to pass through the ICRC and bypass the IEA government.
“The main problem in Afghanistan is not hunger. The main problem is the lack of cash to pay salaries to deliver social services which have existed before,” Maurer said.
“Let’s not forget that most of these medical doctors, nurses, operators of water systems and electricity systems are still the same people. It is the leadership which has changed, but not these people,” he added.
Maurer said humanitarian organizations cannot “fix an implosion of a whole country.” He said what’s needed is an agreement on a sufficient injection of liquidity — something he believes is possible without formally recognizing the IEA government, AP reported.
The ICRC’s budget until mid-2022 has increased from $95 million to roughly $163 million to address Afghanistan’s increasingly urgent needs.
US Vice President JD Vance said on Friday that Joe Biden administration left about $80 billion worth of military equipment in Afghanistan, which was a “catastrophic error.”
Vance made the remarks during a visit to a military base in Greenland.
He also said the Biden administration’s “catastrophic error” led to the deaths of 13 US soldiers in an attack during the evacuation at Kabul airport in August 2021.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump also criticized the abandonment of military equipment in Afghanistan and called for its return.
The Islamic Emirate, however, has said that the weapons left by the US in Afghanistan belong to the Afghans and will not be returned.
The Supreme Court announced on Saturday that based on the ruling of the supreme leader of the Islamic Emirate, 2,463 prisoners have been pardoned and released on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr.
The court said in a statement that the prison terms of another 3,152 prisoners have been reduced.
Eid in Afghanistan will be celebrated on Sunday or Monday, depending on the moon sighting.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs on Saturday announced that feasibility studies of dams in four provinces of the country will begin this solar year.
The Economic Commission, led by Deputy PM Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, in its recent meeting decided to include the survey and feasibility projects of Grumby Dam in Maidan Wardak, Qara Tiri Dam in Balkh, Shana Nari Dam in Kandahar, and Wuch Nari Dam in Paktia in the budget for the fiscal year 1404.
In the meeting, the issues of construction of the Kandahar bypass highway, construction of Arghistan Dam, 90 km of electricity line from Kabul to Jalalabad, and completion of Sheikh Misri substation in Jalalabad were also discussed, and it was decided that the Ministry of Finance will allocate the revenues obtained from the Ganda Kotal lead and zinc mine in Yakawlang district of Bamyan province to these projects.
The Economic Commission meeting also approved a plan for the private sector’s investment in a 40 megawatts solar power generation project in the Hesar Shahi Industrial Park in Nangarhar province. According the plan, the private sector will invest $50.69 million in the project.
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