Pakistan welcomes UNSC, US decisions to help support reach desperate Afghans

Pakistan has welcomed a UN Security Council resolution to help humanitarian aid reach desperate Afghans and a United States announcement of additional steps easing sanctions against the Taliban.

Read more: US issues additional exemptions to allow Afghanistan aid

The UN Security Council on Wednesday unanimously adopted a US-proposed resolution to help humanitarian aid reach desperate Afghans while seeking to keep funds out of Taliban hands.

The resolution — a first step by the UN after months of wrangling over how to avert a humanitarian catastrophe amid an economic meltdown in Afghanistan — was welcomed by the Taliban as a “good step.”

Similarly, the US also announced additional steps, easing sanctions against the Taliban to allow aid groups to funnel desperately needed help to the people of Afghanistan.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi lauded both the developments following the extraordinary session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) in Islamabad.

Following #OICInPakistan, welcome 2 imp devpts in support of Afghan people:
➖@UN SC resolution to provide aid to Afghanistan, supporting basic needs
➖ The US exemption on US/UN officials doing permitted business w/ Taliban from U.S. sanctions, to help ease aid flow.

— Shah Mahmood Qureshi (@SMQureshiPTI) December 23, 2021

Since the Taliban takeover in August, Washington froze $9.5 billion in reserves and the international community has withdrawn billions in humanitarian aid that Afghanistan and its population of roughly 40 million people relied on, and the currency has collapsed.

Without funds to pay civil servants, families have resorted to selling furniture and jewellery to make ends meet.

With the country also battered by drought and the Covid-19 pandemic, the United Nations early this month warned the “unprecedented fiscal shock” could cause the economy to contract by 20 per cent within a year.

International aid had represented 40 per cent of Afghanistan’s GDP and financed 80 per cent of its budget.

Read more: US lauds Pakistan’s efforts for hosting OIC moot to address Afghan crisis

The United States issued an initial round of humanitarian aid exemptions to sanctions a few weeks after the Taliban takeover.