Millions of children in Afghanistan need urgent humanitarian assistance, warns UN

New York: – The heart-wrenching situation in Afghanistan is beginning to unfold after the country has gone under Taliban control. Nearly one million children in Afghanistan are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. Henrietta Fore, head of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), warned that hunger or inadequate health care could kill one million children by the end of the year. She called on the international community to help the children. Meanwhile, a former Afghan leader has accused Taliban militants of kidnapping and killing children.

It is claimed that the country has not been safe since the Taliban took control of most of Afghanistan, including the capital Kabul. Although Taliban leaders have spoken of generosity and inclusiveness at meetings in Doha or in front of the media, there is growing evidence that Taliban terrorists are abusing Afghans as well as westerners. UNICEF expressed grave concerns over the situation in Afghanistan.

Children in Afghanistan were already dependent on humanitarian aid. In the last one and a half years, the supply of this humanitarian aid has already been affected by the Coronavirus rampage, famine, economic crisis and the conflict that has erupted over the past few months. In such a scenario, UNICEF chief Henrietta Fore warned that the crisis over the future of children in Afghanistan has deepened after the takeover by the Taliban.

There have been more than 2,000 serious violations of children’s rights in Afghanistan since January. In addition, the number of women and children displaced by the conflict is huge. Ten million children are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, Fore said. One million children will die of starvation or inadequate health care, she warned. The United Nations has demanded USD 200 million in food aid to reach these Afghan children.

The World Bank has provided USD 5.3 billion in aid to Afghanistan since 2002. But since the Taliban came to Afghanistan, the World Bank has cut off aid to Afghanistan. The International Monetary Fund took a similar stance last week. This is making it harder for support to reach Afghan children. Human rights organisations and activists in Afghanistan are also concerned about the safety of children and women.

Nasir Ahmad Andisha, Afghanistan’s ambassador to the United Nations, said millions of children and women in Afghanistan were not safe under the Taliban regime. Nasir accused the Taliban of breaking into homes, searching for women and girls, and forcing them to marry. Former Minister Masoud Andrabi has blamed Taliban militants for abducting and killing children and the elderly in the Andarab region of the Panjshir province.