Washington — Aid organizations in Afghanistan warn that without sustained international support and engagement, the country is at risk of becoming “a forgotten crisis.”
“Without rapid efforts to increase diplomatic engagement and longer-term sustainable funding, Afghans, especially women and girls, will be left to suffer for years to come,” read a joint statement released on Tuesday by 10 international aid organizations operating the country.
Neil Turner, country director for Afghanistan at the Norwegian Refugee Council, said in a video message to VOA that international engagement is essential for a long-term solution to Afghanistan’s problems.
“We need to have full international engagement with the authorities, and that would allow us to move to find durable solutions for the problems that exist and not just provide relief, which might get people … from one month to the next,” Turner said.
He added that although the aid organizations have been involved in humanitarian assistance for the past three years, when the international community “effectively abandoned Afghanistan,” the current efforts cannot address the problems of poverty, unemployment and displacement.
Afghanistan has been facing one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises since the Taliban seized power three years ago.
The Taliban are not recognized as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.
The international community called on the Taliban to fulfill their commitments to respect human rights and form an inclusive government as conditions for recognition.
The Taliban, however, imposed repressive restrictions on women, banning them from receiving secondary and university education, working with government and nongovernmental organizations, traveling without close male relatives, and going to gyms and public parks.
The Taliban have formed an all-male Cabinet and refuse to share power with others.
The U.N. reported that in May, 23.7 million people, more than half of Afghanistan’s population, needed food assistance.
Women and children accounted for most of those in need.
Sakhi Bayramli, an Afghan human rights activist based in Germany, told VOA that one of the challenges facing the international community is engaging the Taliban.
“The international community should strike a balance between providing humanitarian assistance and negotiating with the Taliban to make sure that the aid reaches people in need in Afghanistan in a timely manner,” Bayramli said.
The aid organizations also called on the international community to pressure the Taliban to respect human rights, particularly women’s rights.
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