"Money is needed if we are to stabilise the region and keep people in Afghanistan"

A major appeal for funds for Afghanistan will take place on Monday 13 September. Ahead of the meeting, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths took part in an interview with UN News, in which he reiterated his belief that the Taliban understand the importance the international community attaches to upholding women's rights and ensuring in writing that humanitarian agencies can function.

In the interview, which took place at the Palace of Nations, the UN building in Geneva, Martin Griffiths also said that, by Monday, he expected to receive written assurances from the Taliban Deputy Prime Minister that humanitarian agencies and their partners will be able to operate freely inside Afghanistan and have full control over their operations.

The Taliban, he says, need the agencies' presence in the country, given the difficult economic situation.

The flash appeal - for more than $600 million to support some 11 million people until the end of the year - is, according to Griffiths, an opportunity to expose the critical needs of Afghans to member states, and for them to commit to working with the UN to meet those needs in very difficult circumstances.

Griffiths met in Kabul with Afghans displaced by the conflict and turmoil that led to the Taliban takeover on 15 August.

"I went to talk to them and said, 'What do you want? Two-thirds of those we talked to wanted to go home. One third still didn't trust the Taliban, that they would be treated properly in their country. For the two-thirds who wanted to go home, all they needed was the price of transport and some help to repair the damage to their homes and their community. Money well spent, one imagines, if we want to stabilise the region and if we want people to stay in Afghanistan rather than flee to neighbouring countries and beyond".

Griffiths raised two main issues with Taliban leaders on a recent visit to Kabul, where he went at the request of the UN Secretary-General.
The first was the right of women and girls "to everything that is normal in society": work, education, freedom of movement - basic expectations that peaceful demonstrators have demanded in protests across Afghanistan, which the Taliban have repressed "with increasing violence", according to the UN human rights office,

"They promised 'that the rights of women and girls will be respected', but added, in accordance with 'the religion and culture of Afghanistan'. Now, this is a work in progress, and we have already been through this. So we need to have a lot more discussion in the coming days, in the coming weeks, about what it really means. And that's very important for the people of Afghanistan, but it's also very important for the international community".

Griffiths, a veteran aid worker who last negotiated with the Taliban in 1998 when they came to power, insisted on the need for "many more talks in the coming days, in the coming weeks", amid concerns about the loss of women's rights.

"This is what the Taliban themselves have told me... they have come to power earlier than they thought, they are not prepared for this," he said.

The UN emergency relief chief also discussed with the Taliban the conditions necessary for humanitarian agencies to operate. He said he spoke with Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Ghani Baradar and his advisers about the safety of humanitarian workers, the freedom of agencies to employ whomever they wish - both men and women - and the guarantee that operations would be independent and controlled by the agencies themselves.

"Mullah Baradar, who is one of the main leaders of the movement in this new administration, confirmed his support for all of those elements," Griffiths said.

"This is essentially a description of the humanitarian space in which the agencies operate. He is now converting, at my request, those oral commitments into written assurances. And we hope to have that letter from him with us on Monday here in Geneva."

On the current dire situation of many millions of Afghans, Griffiths explained that half of the country's children under the age of five are at risk of severe malnutrition.

"Two-thirds of the country is in need of humanitarian assistance. That was even before recent events," he said. "So we've reassessed the humanitarian needs, we've added more because of the current circumstances, and what we hope to see on Monday are pledges and commitments that will allow us to move forward."

Asked if he sensed a change in the current administration compared to the Taliban with whom he engaged more than two decades ago, the UN humanitarian chief described a recent meeting with representatives of Pakistan and Qatar, which indicated that this might be the case.

"They said that what the Taliban leadership understands very clearly this time is how much they need the international community to deliver the aid that we've talked about for the people. Because the economic situation is very, very difficult; the banks are closed, there is no money in the system, people are not getting their salaries, local institutions are in danger... the Taliban are as aware of that as you and I. So they need us to be there. So, they need us to be there. And I think that drives them to make the kind of compromises that they made with me. And I hope that drives their behaviour as we move from promises to practice".