Taliban pledge to keep aid workers safe

The Taliban pledged on Sunday (September 5th) to guarantee the safety of aid workers and access to aid in Afghanistan during a meeting with the head of UN humanitarian affairs, a UN spokesperson said. .

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Britain's Martin Griffiths, UN Assistant Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, was in Kabul on Sunday for days of talks with Taliban leaders as the country is threatened by a large-scale humanitarian crisis. "

" he said. UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement.

Martin Griffiths reaffirmed for his part the commitment of the humanitarian community to provide "

", according to the same press release. He called on all parties to ensure respect for women's rights, both among populations and among humanitarian teams. The issue of women's rights is the one on which the Taliban, who seized power on August 15 after a lightning military offensive, are most awaited by the international community. The latter, as well as part of the Afghan population, keeps in mind the brutality of the Islamist movement between 1996 and 2001. Since his return to power, he has tried to show a more moderate face.

Half of the 38 million inhabitants are in need of humanitarian aid and more than half of children under the age of five will suffer from hunger in the coming year, warns the United Nations. UN humanitarian flights have recently resumed to northern and southern Afghanistan, Dujarric said Thursday, saying he hoped they could be stepped up soon. United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres is due to hold a meeting in Geneva on September 13 between member states in order to increase humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. Between 2002 and 2021, UN flights served more than 20 destinations in Afghanistan and the UN objective is to return to such a scale as soon as the security and financing of operations are assured.