Russia will soon send medicines, foodstuffs and essential goods to Afghanistan. This statement was made by the Permanent Representative of Russia to the United Nations (UN) Vasily Nebenzya on Wednesday, November 17.
“In the near future we will send food, medicine, essential goods to Afghanistan,” he said at a meeting of the UN Security Council, which was broadcast online on the organization’s website.
Nebenzya emphasized that “urgent humanitarian assistance is now a top priority for Afghanistan” and hoped that “key donors will also show the generosity needed in a critical situation.”
The Permanent Representative added that the situation in Afghanistan has not only not stabilized yet, but, on the contrary, has overgrown with new challenges “associated primarily with the lack of international recognition.” Among the topical old problems that have not disappeared anywhere, the Russian Permanent Representative noted drugs and terrorism.
He added: the socio-economic problems of Afghanistan cannot be solved without unfreezing accounts in Western banks.
“No matter how assistance is now being increased through the OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs of the United Nations – Ed.), Funds and programs, the socio-economic problems of Afghanistan cannot be resolved without unfreezing funds through international financial institutions,” Nebenzya said.
While stipulating Moscow’s position on the Afghan issue, he announced that Russia is in favor of the earliest possible convening of an international donor conference under the auspices of the UN on Afghanistan.
“We consider it expedient to convene as soon as possible a representative international donor conference under the auspices of the United Nations, on the understanding that the main burden of post-conflict economic and financial reconstruction and development of Afghanistan should be borne by the forces whose military contingents have been present in this country for the past 20 years,” said the Permanent Representative of Russia at the UN.
On November 17, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said that Afghanistan should not once again become “a testing ground for rash geopolitical adventures of external players.” He believes that the events in Afghanistan may follow a catastrophic scenario if the new authorities in Kabul are unable to normalize the situation, and the international community – to provide support to the Afghan people.
On November 10, Patrushev announced that more than 20 terrorist structures are currently operating in Afghanistan. He stressed that this is the main problem coming from the Afghan direction. The Secretary of the Security Council noted that the growing number of refugees from Afghanistan is a threat to regional stability. In addition, the country is on the brink of a humanitarian crisis: the drought continues, food prices are rising, and more than 18 million people are starving.
The situation in Afghanistan escalated in May 2021 after the start of the withdrawal of American troops who had been in the country since 2001. Members of the Taliban (the organization is under UN sanctions for terrorist activities) launched an offensive on the country’s major cities and entered Kabul on August 15, announcing the end of the war.