Meeting between Deborah Lyons, head of UN mission in Afghanistan, and Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani focused on the delivery of humanitarian assistance “without any hurdle”, says a Taliban spokesperson.
A UN envoy has met Afghanistan’s new
interior minister who for years sought by US and is now part of a government trying
to head off a humanitarian crisis.
The meeting between Deborah Lyons, head of the UN mission
in Afghanistan, and Sirajuddin Haqqani focused on humanitarian
assistance, Suhail Shaheen, a Taliban spokesman, said in a
statement on Twitter on Thursday.
“(Haqqani) stressed that UN personnel can conduct their work without any hurdle and deliver vital aid to the Afghan people,” he said.
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and deliver vital aid to the Afghan people. He emphasized to remain engaged with the International Community. The Head of UNAMA said what we heard from you negate the propaganda launched against you in the last 20 years and send a positive message.— Suhail Shaheen. Ù…Øمد سهیل شاهین (@suhailshaheen1) September 16, 2021
Afghans facing ‘perhaps their most perilous hour’
Afghanistan was already facing chronic poverty and drought but the situation has deteriorated since the Taliban took over
last month with the disruption of aid, the departure of tens of
thousands of people including government and aid workers and the collapse of much economic activity.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told an international aid conference this week that Afghans were facing “perhaps their most perilous hour”.
The UN mission in Afghanistan said that Lyons stressed the “absolute necessity for all UN and humanitarian personnel in Afghanistan to be able to work without intimidation or obstruction to deliver vital aid and conduct work for Afghan people”.
The Taliban repeatedly targeted the United Nations during the two-decades-long US-led invasion of Afghanistan that ended last month with the rout of the Western-backed government by the Taliban.
In one of the bloodiest incidents, the Taliban killed five UN foreign staff in an attack on a guest-house in Kabul in 2009.
READ MORE:
UN seeks safe passage for aid workers in Afghanistan
A month after the Taliban took power in Afghanistan, the country is in midst of a critical humanitarian disaster in which 1 in 3 Afghans don’t know where their next meal will come from https://t.co/DmJyLCJkcD pic.twitter.com/LwoMIlV6RM
— TRT World (@trtworld) September 15, 2021
Haqqani network
More recently, gunmen attacked a UN compound in the city
of Herat in July with rocket-propelled grenades killing a guard,
while protesters in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif in 2011
killed seven UN staff.
The Haqqani network, a faction within the Taliban and for
years based on the border with Pakistan was held responsible
for some of the worst militant attacks in Afghanistan during the
Taliban insurgency.
The United States designated the group a “terrorist” organisation in 2012.
Haqqani, head of the eponymous network founded by his
father is one of the FBI’s most wanted men with a reward of $10
million for information leading to his arrest.
US officials and members of the old US-backed Afghan
government for years said the Haqqani network maintained ties
with Al Qaeda.
The Taliban have promised not to let Afghanistan
be used for militant attacks on other countries.
READ MORE:
Five reasons why Afghanistan shouldn’t fall off your radar
Source: Reuters
UN discusses unhindered aid delivery to Afghanistan with Taliban
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