Monday January 23, 2017
Kabul (BNA) The UN on Saturday launched an appeal for $550 million to aid and support Afghans in need of assistance in the war-ravaged country.
United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator Mark Bowden said 2017 was exceptionally challenging for Afghanistan, which is home to the largest number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and repatriates in the world after Syria. “The current scale of need in Afghanistan calls upon the humanitarian community to deliver increased levels of assistance to ensure the lives of many Afghans are not endangered, and so that they can live in safety and dignity,” Bowden said at the launch. According to the UN officials and international donors to Afghanistan, more than half a billion of dollar is needed to help millions of Afghans, and based on recent reports, over nine million Afghans are faced with many challenges due to violence and bad economic situation. The UN Humanitarian Coordinator, Mark Bowden said hundreds of Afghan refugees were expected to return home from neighboring countries of Iran and Pakistan this year. At the same time, a number of political experts and Kabul citizens told that continued immigrations have been concerning, thus, the government should implement practical programs to returnees and IDPs. Expressing concern on continued immigrations to European countries, Mohammad Modaqiq, a political expert said, ‘unfortunately, the government of Afghanistan doesn’t have any specific program to keep the Afghan nationals inside the country.’
He added that deterioration of security situation in a number of turbulent provinces has caused hundreds of thousands of Afghan families to leave their homes and seek refuge in another provinces, whom are in dire need of humanitarian assistances. A private university lecturer, Akbar Jawad said, ‘in fact, the immigration crisis is considered as second main problem after terrorism, as Afghanistan has a high number of refugees in the world after Syria.’ But unfortunately, the host countries don’t treat the Afghan refugees well, thus, they have to return home, and now the donor organizations to Afghanistan, particularly the entities on immigrants should address their problems, he continued. Meanwhile, a number Kabul residents said, ‘the government should have a specific policy on returnees, because, those who have returned to Afghanistan have not been provided with better life conditions.’ Concurrent exposure to violence as well as high economic vulnerability means most households experience multiple and repetitive shocks within a year resulting in food insufficiency and adoption of negative, often harmful coping strategies which plunge families deeper into crisis. This is while that last year, the humanitarian entities have requested $339mln aids to Afghanistan, as they could provide only $197mln so far.
Suraya Raiszada
