In Afghanistan, Aid Agencies Adjust to New Environment

Afghanistan was already deeply mired in one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises before the Taliban swept into Kabul on August 15. Now aid organizations are scrambling to deal with thousands of newly displaced persons, growing needs, and an uncertain operating environment. 1/2Sher M. Abbas Stanikzai, Deputy Director, PO and his accompanying delegation met with David Beasley, Executive Director of WFP and his delegation in Doha. They discussed humanitarian issues and ongoing situation of Afghanistan including problems emerged as a result of drought

“So everything at the moment in terms of how UNICEF works is up in the air,” said Samantha Mort, communications chief in Kabul for the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF). UNICEF, like most other U.N. agencies has been in Afghanistan since the 1960s and is staying and continuing to assist the population, but has relocated some of its international staff temporarily out of the country. Most U.N. Afghan staff have been told to work from home for now, while their agencies – which have dealt with the Taliban for years – figure out if and how they will be affected. “We have not yet had a meeting at the central level with the new de facto authority,” Mort explained of UNICEF’s discussions with the Taliban. “We are having dialogue at the regional and local level with local interlocutors. So we do not have a system in place yet.”