Afghan on the verge of complete collapse on waning fund flow: UN

Kabul: The United Nations has warned that the 38 million Afghan people are on the verge of complete poverty following the waning of financial aid flows into the already poverty-ridden country after the Taliban's takeover.

A study held by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) forecasts that poverty will likely enclose the country's 97% of the population by the next year while assets worth nearly $10 billion of Afghanistan's central bank have reportedly been frozen overseas.

This came amid reports about the international community stopping its financial assistance provided to the Afghan government under various schemes after the Taliban took control of the country.

The terrible outlook on the famine situation was presented before Monday's UN donor pledging conference for Afghanistan, convened by the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres. Kanni Wignaraja, the UN assistant secretary-general explained the need for an international effort to avert a complete collapse of Afghanistan.

Wignaraja said that the lives of Afghanistan's most vulnerable people are in the course of rapid and catastrophic deterioration amid the challenges posed by the transition of governance to new authorities, pandemic, drought and oncoming winter season. The culmination of these challenges is pushing the country into utter poverty, which demands urgent action, he added.

The UN is said to have also outlined a proposed package of interventions designed to help improve the immediate living conditions of the most vulnerable people and communities, prioritising safeguarding women's and girls' rights.

Meanwhile, the international community is said to be struggling for not knowing how to engage with the Afghan's new government under the Taliban for its unchanged attitudes amid the looming economic and humanitarian disaster.

However, the UN special envoy on Afghanistan Deborah Lyons told the UN Security Council about the need for a mechanism to channelize money into the country that facing a total breakdown of the economy and social order due to the plummeting currency, price rise of food and fuel and private banks fast running out of cash.

Lyons believes that the Taliban should be given a chance to demonstrate its intentions to bring changes in its model of governance unlike its previous tenure during the 1990s, especially in human rights, gender, and counter-terrorism perspective.

Foreign donors led by the United States provided more than 75 per cent of the public expenditure for the Afghanistan government that crumbled in mid-August as the US withdrew its troops after 20 years in the country.

The International Monetary Fund has also blocked the Taliban from accessing some $440m in new emergency reserves.