U.N. steps up Afghan aid drive

Secretary-general tells of food crisis, seeks $4.4B in pledges

GENEVA — The United Nations chief said Thursday that nearly all Afghans don’t have enough to eat and some have resorted to “selling their children and their body parts” to get money for food.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ statement was part of an appeal Thursday from the world body and several rich countries that want to help beleaguered Afghans whose situation has worsened since the Taliban returned to power last year.

Guterres kicked off a virtual pledging conference led by the U.N.’s aid coordination office and backed by Britain, Germany and Qatar, seeking to make inroads on its biggest-ever appeal for funds for a single country: $4.4 billion.

He called on the world to “spare” Afghans who have had their rights stripped — like many women and girls — after the ouster of the internationally-backed government last summer, prompting some rich countries to freeze nearly $9 billion in Afghan assets overseas so the Taliban can’t access them.

“Wealthy, powerful countries cannot ignore the consequences of their decisions on the most vulnerable,” Guterres said. “Some 95% of people do not have enough to eat, and 9 million people are at risk of famine,” he added, citing UNICEF estimates that over a million severely malnourished children “are on the verge of death without immediate action.”

“Without immediate action we face a starvation and malnutrition crisis in Afghanistan,” he said. “People are already selling their children and their body parts in order to feed their families.”

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Britain will renew this year its $380 million of support from 2021. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock of Germany said her country had stepped up with $220 million. Qatar said it had contributed $50 million in recent months, and pledged another $25 million for 2022.

Some 23 million people face acute food insecurity, the U.N. says.

Aside from the freeze on funds, the situation for Afghans has grown worse amid the worst drought in years, and skyrocketing prices for food caused by fallout from Russia’s war in Ukraine, a key European source of food.

“Ukraine is of vital importance, but Afghanistan, you know, calls to our soul for commitment and loyalty,” said Martin Griffiths, who heads the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, ahead of Thursday’s pledge drive. “In simple terms, the humanitarian program that we are appealing for is to save lives.”

The appeal for funds is three times what the agency sought for Afghanistan a year earlier, a request that was exceeded once donors saw the needs that would have to be met after the Taliban takeover.

“I have no doubt that we will not achieve the target of $4.4 billion tomorrow in pledges, but we will work on it,” Griffiths said.

CHINA VOWS SUPPORT

Chinese leader Xi Jinping issued strong backing for Afghanistan at a regional conference Thursday.

Xi pledged China’s support in a message to a gathering of representatives from Afghanistan, China, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in a central Chinese city, spotlighting Beijing’s aspirations to play a leading role in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of U.S. forces last August.

A “peaceful, stable, developed and prosperous Afghanistan” is what Afghans aspire to, which “serves the common interests of regional countries and the international community,” Xi said.

“China has all along respected Afghanistan’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, and is committed to supporting Afghanistan’s peaceful and stable development,” Xi said in his message to the gathering in Tunxi, a center of the tourism industry in Anhui province.

A joint statement issued after the meeting noted the importance of ensuring women’s rights and children’s education and protecting the rights of all ethnic groups. It also “urged the countries mainly responsible for the current predicament in Afghanistan” to fulfill their commitments on its economic recovery.

China’s Foreign Ministry said the sides agreed that the U.S. and NATO should “earnestly assume the primary responsibility for the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan, and return the property of the Afghan people as soon as possible,” in a reference to the $7 billion in frozen Afghan assets held by the U.S.

In his comments, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi continued Beijing’s attacks on the U.S. over its handling of Afghanistan, saying that as the “initiator of Afghanistan’s predicament,” Washington should “take the major responsibility.”

Afghanistan has achieved “certain partial results” in boosting stability, improving livelihoods, and protecting human rights, Wang said, despite widespread reports of abuses and incompetent governance under the Taliban.

However, Afghanistan “has a long way to go to achieve lasting peace, sustainable development and to advance its foreign relations,” he said.