United Nations: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed on Friday for an injection of money into Afghanistan to avoid an economic meltdown that might spark a “catastrophic” situation for the Afghan people and be a “gift for terrorist groups.”
His remarks come after his special envoy on Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons, warned the safety Council on Thursday that the freezing of billions of dollars in international Afghan assets to stay them out of Taliban hands would inevitably spark “a severe economic downturn.”

“At this moment the UN isn’t even ready to pay its salaries to its own workers,” Guterres told reporters.

“We got to find ways to avoid a situation that might be catastrophic for the people and, in my opinion, a source of instability, and an action, gift for terrorist groups still operating there,” he said.

Al Qaeda and therefore the Islamic State’s Afghan affiliate, ISIS-Khorosan, are present in Afghanistan.

Guterres said he had been speaking with International fund chief Kristalina Georgieva, telling reporters it had been essential to agree on waivers or mechanisms to urge money into Afghanistan.

The IMF has blocked the Taliban from accessing some $440 million in new emergency reserves.

Much of the Afghan central bank’s $10 billion in assets also are parked overseas, where they need been frozen since the Taliban came to power last month. they’re considered a key instrument for the West to pressure the Islamist group.

Both Guterres and UN aid chief Martin Griffiths hope that international programs to urge cash into war-torn Yemen might be replicated in Afghanistan. In Yemen, the UN children’s agency, UNICEF, makes monthly cash payments to some 1.5 million of the poorest families through a program funded by the planet Bank.

The United Nations is additionally working to make sure it can continue its humanitarian add Afghanistan, where a minimum of 18 million people – half the country’s population – already need help.

“We are permanently engaging with the Taliban and that we believe that the dialogue with the Taliban is completely essential at this moment,” Guterres said.