UN official: Afghanistan in ‘forever emergency’ amid funding shortfall

Afghanistan is grappling with an enduring “forever emergency” exacerbated by an isolated nation intent on dismantling human rights, warned Leonard Zulu, the representative for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in the country, Amu News reported.

“The emergency that we had in August 2021 did not disappear,” he emphasized, referring to the shocking Taliban takeover that unfolded globally. “And that’s why I’m saying it’s a forever emergency that will remain as a recurrent emergency,” he added, underscoring the UN agency’s current funding challenges.

Zulu, based in Kabul, outlined the difficulties faced by Afghans and aid agencies during his visit to Brussels on Monday, the article added.

In the previous year, approximately six million people were on the brink of famine, he revealed, compounded by an additional 29 million requiring humanitarian assistance. Afghanistan has also witnessed a series of earthquakes and floods causing devastation to villages and displacing populations.

Since November, aid agencies operating in the country have grappled with Pakistan’s decision to deport nearly half a million Afghans back to Afghanistan. Hosting around 1.7 million Afghans, many of whom fled the Soviet occupation and the 2021 Taliban takeover, Pakistan’s enforcement of deportations began on November 1.