(ANSA) - ISLAMABAD, 19 DEC - By the middle of the next year, universal poverty in Afghanistan, with a 97% share of the population, could be the next "sad family stone" in the country: the United Nations Undersecretary General said so , Martin Griffith, in his speech to the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers on Afghanistan today in Islamabad.
Within a year, Griffith added, 30 percent of Afghanistan's share could be wiped out and male unemployment could double to 29 percent. Griffith stressed that 23 million people in the country already suffer from hunger; health facilities overflow with malnourished children; around 70% of teachers are unpaid; millions of children are not in school; the value of the currency was plummeting and trade - damaged by a lack of confidence in the financial sector - dropped dramatically.
According to the undersecretary, in 2022 the UN will seek funding worth a record 4.5 billion dollars for humanitarian assistance for the most vulnerable in Afghanistan.
Griffith then explained that there is a need for liquidity and that there is an urgent need to stabilize the country's banking system not only to save lives but also to allow humanitarian organizations to respond and operate effectively.
The basic social services on which all Afghans depend, he further commented, are on the verge of collapse and international support for domestic development - on which the country has been dependent for so long - could be completely blocked by the middle of next year.
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