World abandoning Afghanistan will have disastrous outcome: UN

The United Nations has warned the international community of “disastrous consequences,” if it halts assisting millions of Afghan people, amid a growing violence and flagging peace talks between Kabul and the Taliban.

UN Refugee Chief Filippo Grandi said on Monday that the future of millions of Afghans depends on the outcome of peace negotiations and on the international community’s commitment to develop the country.

He made the remarks ahead of a donors' conference starting Monday in Geneva, Switzerland.

“Failure on either account would see Afghanistan slide backwards with disastrous consequences, including further displacement possibly on a large scale,” Grandi said.

He said the nearly 300,000 Afghans who have been displaced inside the country remain in “acute need” of humanitarian support.

Grandi said the same goes for the nearly three million previously displaced and the nine million people who have lost their livelihoods due to the coronavirus pandemic across the country.

The UN refugee chief also called for the conclusion of peace negotiations between Kabul and the Taliban.

The Taliban militant group is engaged in talks with the Afghan government in Qatar in an effort to end nearly two decades of war in the country.

The intra-Afghan talks began in the wake of a deal reached between the United States and the Taliban in Doha, back in February, but progress has so far been slow.

Under the Taliban-US deal, Washington promised to pull out all its terrorist troops by mid-2021 in return for the Taliban to stop their attacks on US-led occupation foreign forces in Afghanistan.

The deal was intended to result in the reduction of violence in the country. But according to recent official data, the Taliban bombings and other assaults have increased 70 percent since the militant group reached the deal with Washington.

ME