A bipartisan group of US Congress members in a letter to President Joe Biden called for the release of humanitarian aid directly to the people of Afghanistan to prevent a catastrophic collapse of Afghanistan’s economy.
The lawmakers were Representatives Tom Malinowski, Jason Crow, Peter Meijer, Gregory W. Meeks, Adam Schiff, Adam Smith, Ami Bera, M.D., William R. Keating, and Ted Deutch.
c“Accordingly, we recommend that the Biden administration release frozen Afghan assets to an appropriate United Nations agency to pay teacher salaries and provide meals to children in schools, so long as girls can continue to attend,” they said. “UN agencies have recently launched an initiative to pay teacher salaries by using private banks and mobile services, bypassing the Taliban-led government.”
According to the congress members, “a failed state in Afghanistan” benefits no one. “While we will continue to press the administration to ensure that we protect the American people from any potential future threats that may emanate from Afghanistan and enable Afghans at special risk of persecution to leave their country, the United States has an equal responsibility to help the many millions more who will stay to survive the winter, to feed their children, and to preserve what can be salvaged of the progress made during the last 20 years,” the letter said.
The Islamic Emirate has welcomed the letter.
“We praise any country or organization which calls for the release of Afghan assets and calls for help in other economic areas to help the Afghans,” said Bilal Karimi, deputy spokesman for the Islamic Emirate.
“It is a gesture. I hope other countries also put aside political issues and provide humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan,” said Shukria Barikzai, former Afghan ambassador to Norway.
The Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in an article in the Khaleej Times said that negligence toward Afghanistan’s situation would trigger a new wave of migration.
Qureshi cited the World Food Programme’s report, saying “this winter, millions of Afghans will have to choose between starvation or migration.”
He said that media reports indicate that Afghans, by the thousands, are trying to leave. “It is a race against time,” he said.
