The Washington Post - USA (2022-04-01)

FRIDAY, APRIL 1 , 2022. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE A

BY KAREN DEYOUNG

Outraged by a new Ta liban
decree banning some girls from
school, and focused on the in-
creasingly costly crisis in
Ukraine, the international com-
munity faces a sharp dilemma:
Should it continue the massive
funding that has kept Afghans
barely alive since last summer, or
should it risk the starvation of a
significant portion of the popula-
tion to punish the militant gov-
ernment?
“I want to say as plainly as
possible, please don’t make the
people of Afghanistan suffer
twice,” Martin Griffiths, the Unit-
ed Nations humanitarian affairs
chief, appealed to a conference of
donor countries Thursday.
“Please don’t reduce assistance
because of this wretched decision
that we heard last week.”
Only 13 percent of this year’s
$4.4 billion emergency humani-
tarian request for Afghanistan —
the largest U.N. appeal ever for a
single country — has been funded
so far. The virtual conference,
jointly hosted by Germany, Qatar
and the United Kingdom, and
attended by senior officials from
dozens of countries, was long
planned as a jolt to international
donors to step up their efforts.
But their enthusiasm was un-
dermined when girls above the
sixth grade arriving for the first
day of the Afghan school year last
week were told to go back home
indefinitely. The Ta liban dictum
reversed an announcement —
demanded by and promised to
donor countries — just days earli-
er that all schools for girls would
be open. The change was various-
ly attributed to a scarcity of
female teachers, facility prob-
lems, delay in approving suitable
school uniforms, and what an
Education Ministry spokesper-
son said were some “cultural and
religious obligations” still under
consideration.
A number of Afghan experts,

however, blamed it on what they

described as deep ideological

schisms within the Ta liban lead-

ership related to basic rights for

women and girls, among other

things. The school announce-

ment was followed by rulings

limiting the travel of women out-

side the country, and reports that

no passports would be issued

until further notice.

Top Ta liban leaders reportedly

rejected the girls’ schooling deci-

sion after interventions from

hard-liners during a meeting in

Kandahar the weekend before

the opening — and rapid closure

— on March 23. But “there are

also indications that the reversal

is a symptom of the movement’s

broader failure to create a clear

mechanism for making national

policy decisions,” Ashley Jackson,

an Afghan scholar who has writ-

ten extensively about the rela-

tionship between civilians and

the Ta liban insurgents, suggested

in a report for the Afghanistan

Analysts Network.

The Ta liban did not have a

blanket policy on female educa-

tion in the territory the group

controlled before taking over the

whole of Afghanistan in August.

In some provinces, there was not

a single girls school in Ta liban-

controlled territory. In some oth-

er areas, local leadership allowed

women to pursue higher educa-

tion.

In remarks to the donors con-

ference, Linda Thomas-Green-

field, the U.S. ambassador to the

United Nations, called the deci-

sion “inexcusable” and said it

“must be reversed.”

Donations for humanitarian

assistance to Afghanistan had

already slowed after a massive

outpouring of aid last year follow-

ing the Ta liban takeover and U.S.

troop withdrawal in August. The

initial flow came as international

aid organizations warned that

the abrupt cutoff of foreign fi-

nancing that had long provided

more than 75 percent of Afghan

government income would lead

to mass unemployment and hu-

manitarian catastrophe as the

harsh winter approached.

The United States and most of

the rest of the world provided

donations for aid flows through

the United Nations and other

nongovernmental organizations,

closely monitored so none of the

food and medical supplies would

go through the militants now in

charge of the country. Diplomatic

recognition and any direct assis-

tance were withheld until the

Ta liban replaced what it said was

a temporary governing structure

that was more inclusive; ensured

human rights for all, including

women, girls and minorities; and

eliminated any support for global

terrorist groups.

Early this year, as it became

clear that the lack of a banking

structure and the absence of any

cash income would lead to the

collapse of infrastructure and

services throughout the country,

a U.N.-led effort was launched to

pay salaries directly to health-

care workers, teachers and other

public-sector employees, and to

develop at least a temporary fi-

nancial system outside the reach

of the Ta liban to help stabilize the

economy.

The World Bank agreed to

release $1 billion from its Afghan-

istan development trust fund,

which was frozen by bank mem-

ber countries when the Ta liban

took over, to add liquidity to the

banking sector. In February, Pres-

ident Biden signed an executive

order to release $3.5 billion —

about half of Afghan government

assets held in the U.S. Federal

Reserve that the administration

had frozen — for the same pur-

pose.

With no progress reported on

an inclusive government, and lit-

tle visible on the counterterror-

ism front, world attention turned

to human rights, with the reopen-

ing of schools following Afghani-

stan’s traditional winter break

seen as an opportunity for the

militants to put actions behind

their promises.

Within days after the Ta liban

about-face on education for girls,

the United States canceled a

round of U.S.-Taliban talks sched-

uled to take place this week in

Doha, Qatar. The World Bank,

expressing “deep concern,” said

grants being prepared to spend

part of the trust fund on “agricul-

ture, education, health and liveli-

hoods” would not be presented

for approval until there is “a

better understanding of the situa-

tion and assurance/confidence

that the goals of the projects can

be met.”

A State Department spokes-

person, speaking on the condi-

tion of anonymity under govern-

ment-imposed rules, said the ad-

ministration was “still working to

establish a mechanism to allow”

the $3.5 billion covered by

Biden’s executive order “to be

used to help Afghans stabilize

their economy.” But there was no

indication that would happen

soon.

During the Thursday donor

conference, no one disputed the

sorrow and deprivation being en-

dured by Afghans. “Ninety-five

percent do not have enough to

eat,” U.N. Secretary General

António Guterres said. “9 million

are at risk of famine. ... Global

food prices are skyrocketing as a

result of the war in Ukraine,” he

said, and “without immediate ac-

tion, we face a starvation and

malnutrition crisis.”

Families are selling some of

their children to feed the rest,

Guterres said, more than 80 per-

cent of the population is in debt,

key workers have not been paid

for months, farmers cannot buy

feed or fertilizer, and “interna-

tional aid agencies can barely

function.” The international com-

munity, he said, “must find ways

to spare the Afghan people. It

must make cash available so the

Afghan people can breathe and

the Afghan people can eat.”

Griffiths was visibly moved as

he described a visit to a Kabul

hospital this week, where he said

the sight of malnourished and

dying infants “left me quite

speechless.”

Many countries pledged to in-

crease their donations to human-

itarian assistance, including the

United States, which announced

more than $200 million in addi-

tional funds. The State Depart-

ment spokesperson emphasized

that the aid for basic human

needs was “unconditional” and

separate from the $3.5 billion in

frozen Afghan assets.

But there was widespread

agreement that distributing food

and medicine was only a stopgap

remedy, without much more

money to reestablish a function-

ing economy and financial sys-

tem. That, several donors said,

was a question that would de-

pend on the Ta liban.

“Even as we respond urgently

to the crisis of Ukraine, we can’t

neglect the people of Afghani-

stan,” said British Foreign Secre-

tary Liz Truss. At the same time,

she said, “our potential to provide

support will depend on how will-

ing the Ta liban are to engage. ...

Women and girls must be allowed

to study at all levels.”

Susannah George in Islamabad,

Pakistan, contributed to this report.

Global donors in tough spot as Taliban breaks promises

LORENZO TUGNOLI FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Students attend a class at Ayesha Durkhani girls school in Kabul on Wednesday. These students are in

the sixth grade, the highest class the Taliban is allowing girls to attend, a reversal of an earlier vow.

Only a fraction of a id

sought for Afghanistan

has materialized so far

“I want to say as

plainly as possible,

please don’t make the

people of Afghanistan

suffer twice.”

Martin Griffiths, the United Nations

humanitarian affairs chief

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