G20 pledges help for Afghan humanitarian crisis at special summit

Rome, October 12 (BNA) After hosting an emergency summit, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said Tuesday that the Group of Twenty is determined to address the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, even if this means the need to coordinate efforts with the Taliban. .

Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan on August 15, the country – already reeling from drought and extreme poverty after decades of war – has seen its economy nearly collapse, raising the specter of a mass refugee exodus, Reuters reported.

“There was a convergence of views basically on the need to address the humanitarian emergency,” Draghi told reporters at the end of a video conference.

US President Joe Biden, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several European leaders participated, but Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin did not call, indicating different international positions on the emergency.

Draghi said the absence of the last two leaders did not diminish the importance of the meeting organized by Italy, the current G20 president.

“This was the first multilateral response to the Afghan crisis,” Draghi said. “Multilateralism is coming back with difficulty, but it is coming back.”

There was unanimous agreement among the participants about the need to alleviate the crisis in Afghanistan, where banks are running out of money, civil servants are not being paid, and food prices have soared, leaving millions at risk of severe starvation.

Much of the aid effort will be channeled through the United Nations, but there will also be direct state-to-state assistance, although most countries refuse to formally recognize the hardline Taliban government.

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“It is very difficult to see how you can help the people in Afghanistan without involving the Taliban … but that does not mean recognizing them,” Draghi said.

He said the Taliban would be judged by their actions, not their words, and that the world was particularly concerned about the plight of women in the impoverished country.

“At this time, we don’t see any progress,” Draghi said.

The White House said the leaders discussed “the urgent need to maintain a laser focus on our ongoing counterterrorism efforts, including against the threats of ISIS-K.” Read more

In a joint statement after the meeting, the G20 leaders called on the Taliban to deal with militant groups operating outside the country. They said that future humanitarian programs should focus on women and girls, and that safe passage should be given to those Afghans who wish to leave the country.

Prior to the meeting, China demanded the lifting of economic sanctions on Afghanistan, unfreezing billions of dollars in international Afghan assets and returning them to Kabul.

The United States and Britain, where many of the assets are kept, resist this effort, and there was no mention of the matter in the closing statement.

Tuesday’s meeting comes less than three weeks before the official summit of G20 leaders in Rome on October 30-31, which is set to focus on climate change, global economic recovery, tackling malnutrition and the COVID-19 pandemic.

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