The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan will not end as evacuation flights wind down, the United Nations warned as the U.S. completed its withdrawal from the country.
Afghanistan’s tragedy will be less visible once the airlifts end, but the crisis “will still be a daily reality for millions of Afghans,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in a statement.
“We must not turn away. A far greater humanitarian crisis is just beginning,” he said.
The Pentagon on Monday said the U.S. finished its withdrawal efforts from the Kabul airport, ending America’s longest war. President Joe Biden said more than 120,000 people, including U.S. citizens and Afghan allies, were evacuated over 17 days.
Grandi, however, pointed out that the “overwhelming majority of Afghans, some 39 million,” still remain inside Afghanistan.
“They need us – governments, humanitarians, ordinary citizens – to stay with them and stay the course,” he said.
Kabul fell to the Taliban in mid-August as the U.S. prepared to withdraw its military presence from the country after 20 years. Since then, there have been reports of violence by the Islamist militant group including a suicide bombing attack that killed more than 180 people, and U.S. drone strikes against ISIS-K targets.
Isabelle Moussard Carlsen, head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Afghanistan, told “Street Signs Asia” on Monday that half the country is in need of aid, and half the children are malnourished after “decades of conflict and drought.”
The population is “very vulnerable” and does not have access to food, water, education and health care, she said.
“The situation on the ground today is really of a humanitarian catastrophe that is looming,” she said.
Aid response
The World Health Organization announced Monday that 12.5 metric tonnes of medicines and medical supplies had landed in Afghanistan, for the first time since the country came under Taliban control.
The supplies included trauma kits and emergency health kits, and were “enough to cover the basic health needs of more than 200,000 people, as well as provide 3,500 surgical procedures and treat 6,500 trauma patients,” the UN health agency said in a statement.
However, the WHO also said the supplies can only “partially replenish” reserves and ensure that services can continue “for now.”
