Western fund freeze on Afghanistan risks humanitarian disaster, former UK FM warns

Afghan internally-displaced children sit outside their mud house at Shaidayee refugee camp in Herat province on February 20, 2022. (AFP)
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Updated 20 February 2022
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Western fund freeze on Afghanistan risks humanitarian disaster, former UK FM warns

  • David Miliband says sanctions, disinterest in structural issues are “making it worse for normal people”

LONDON: Western countries are damaging their reputations and causing “catastrophic” damage to the Afghan people by withholding cash supplies, former British Foreign Minister David Miliband has warned.

The CEO of the International Rescue Committee told The Guardian: “If we wanted to create a failed state we could not have a more effective policy mix than the one we have at the moment.”

He added: “I simply do not understand the lack of urgency to get this thing moving. It genuinely befuddles me that we should have allowed this to get so much worse so quickly.”

Miliband and other high-profile figures and officials are urging US President Joe Biden and the World Bank to release urgent funding for Afghanistan to avert a humanitarian disaster and rebuild the country’s economy.

Miliband warned that an estimated $4 billion required to urgently supply the country with aid would likely rise to $10 billion next year if the country’s needs are not immediately met.

He said: “What we are doing is not making it worse for the Taliban, it is making it worse for the people. We are not punishing the Taliban. It is ordinary Afghans that are paying the price of peace.

“It is not just a catastrophe of choice, but a catastrophe of reputation. This is a starvation policy.

“There is absolutely no evidence that people who have spent 20 years fighting the Americans and won a war are now going to become susceptible to leverage that they have not been susceptible to for 20 years.

“The choice is a very brutal one. It is not ‘do you help the Taliban or not?’ It is ‘do you help the people or not?’ This is a government where already 75 percent of its spending came in the form of international aid and has gone overnight.”

Miliband warned that several critical issues must be addressed if Afghanistan is to survive the coming months without descending into a full-scale humanitarian catastrophe.

“There is no money to pay salaries. Some teachers and hospital workers have not been paid since April. That has to change.

“The US sanctions continue to have a chilling effect on commercial activity even though there are carve-outs in US and international sanctions for humanitarian purposes. The carve-out does not touch commercial entities so if you are a private agricultural or food importer who has to touch the government at the border in some way you are scared you are going to get caught up in the sanctions.

“Then there is the liquidity crisis, so there is no capital underpinning the banking system so no one can lend or pay for imports. Finally there are no technocrats or expertise in the Central Bank — they have all left. All this can be done without having to get into the issue of recognition of the Taliban.

“Together this is causing an economic freeze and in these tragic circumstances you can give more aid until you are blue in the face, and it will not solve the structural problems. I am in the ridiculous position of running an aid agency and I am saying ‘don’t just give out humanitarian aid, you have to underpin the economy’.”


Pope Leo urges international diplomacy to prevent ‘irreparable abyss’

Updated 13 sec ago
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Pope Leo urges international diplomacy to prevent ‘irreparable abyss’

VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo on Sunday said the international community must strive to avoid war that risks opening an “irreparable abyss,” and that diplomacy should take the place of conflict.
US forces struck Iran’s three main nuclear sites overnight, joining an Israeli assault in a major new escalation of conflict in the Middle East as Tehran vowed to defend itself.
“Every member of the international community has a moral responsibility: to stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable abyss,” Pope Leo said during his weekly prayer with pilgrims.
“No armed victory can compensate for the pain of mothers, the fear of children, the stolen future. Let diplomacy silence the weapons, let nations chart their future with peace efforts, not with violence and bloody conflicts,” he added.
“In this dramatic scenario, which includes Israel and Palestine, the daily suffering of the population, especially in Gaza and other territories, risks being forgotten, where the need for adequate humanitarian support is becoming increasingly urgent,” Pope Leo said.

Winds fuel fears of new Croatia wildfires

Updated 9 min 7 sec ago
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Winds fuel fears of new Croatia wildfires

ZAGREB: Firefighters in southern Croatia were on high alert Sunday in fear that expected strong winds could rekindle blazes in the Balkan nation.
Crews, with the help of water bombers, managed to get control Saturday over wildfires on the southern Adriatic coast, after a series of blazes started in recent days.
The fires, near Croatia’s second largest city Split, that started Saturday morning close to the coastal village of Pisak was put under control but were still smoldering.
They have burnt 300 hectares (740 acres) and dozen of houses, authorities said.
According to the Split-Dalmatia county firefighting commander, Ivan Kovacevic during the night several small fires were put down by the firefighters.
“The damage is huge, but it could have been bigger having given the number of structures that were threatened,” Kovacevic said.
No death have been report, while one firefighter and some civilians have suffered minor injuries.
According to Civil protection headquarters at least 94 people, mostly tourists were evacuated in Omis, but late Saturday they returned to their accommodation.
Deputy prefect of Split-Dalmatia county, Stipe Cogelja said the village of Marusic on the Adriatic coast suffered the most damages, adding it was “pure luck” that no one had died.
Police said they are “intensively investigating” the possibility of arson in the fires and called on the citizens to help by immediately reporting any suspicious behavior.


Iran’s Paris-based opposition head says time for Khamenei to go, after US hits nuclear sites

Updated 22 June 2025
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Iran’s Paris-based opposition head says time for Khamenei to go, after US hits nuclear sites

PARIS: Maryam Rajavi, head of the Paris-based opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran said on Sunday that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was responsible for the nuclear program that had now “gone up in smoke” and needed to go.
“Now Khamenei must go. The Iranian people welcome the end of the war and seek peace and freedom,” she said in a statement, following unprecedented US strikes that President Donald Trump said had “obliterated” its key nuclear facilities.
“Khamenei is responsible for an unpatriotic project that, in addition to costing countless lives, has cost the Iranian people at least $2 trillion— and now, it has all gone up in smoke.”


Japan spots Chinese ships near disputed isles for record 216 straight days

Updated 22 June 2025
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Japan spots Chinese ships near disputed isles for record 216 straight days

  • The Tokyo-administered islands, known as the Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan, have long been a sore point between the neighbors

TOKYO: Japan spotted Chinese vessels sailing near disputed islets in the East China Sea for a record 216 consecutive days, Tokyo’s coast guard said Sunday.
The Tokyo-administered islands, known as the Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan, have long been a sore point between the neighbors.
On Sunday, Japan said it observed four Chinese coast guard vessels sailing in the “contiguous” zone, referring to a 12-nautical-mile band that extends beyond Japan’s territorial waters.
Last year, Chinese vessels sailed near the Tokyo-administered island chain a record 355 times, including for a period of 215 consecutive days, a Japanese coast guard spokesman told AFP.
Japanese officials regularly protest the presence of the Chinese coast guard and other vessels in the waters surrounding the remote, disputed islands.
Relations between Japan and China were strained by Tokyo’s decision to “nationalize” some of the islands in 2012.
On Friday, Japan’s coast guard and its US and Filipino counterparts staged joint training drills off Japan’s southwest shore — the second time the countries’ coast guards have held training drills together, and the first in Japan.
Territorial disputes with China have pushed Japan to forge deeper ties with the Philippines and the United States.
Earlier this month, Tokyo and Beijing traded barbs over close encounters between their military planes over the Pacific high seas.


UN watchdog says no increase in radiation off sites that the US hit

Updated 22 June 2025
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UN watchdog says no increase in radiation off sites that the US hit

  • The UN nuclear watchdog says there's 'no increase in off-site radiation levels' after US strikes on Iran nuclear sites.

TEL AVIV: The International Atomic Energy Agency said Sunday that there has been “no increase in off-site radiation levels” after US airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites.
The UN nuclear watchdog sent the message via the social platform X on Sunday.
“The IAEA can confirm that no increase in off-site radiation levels has been reported as of this time,” it said. The “IAEA will provide further assessments on situation in Iran as more information becomes available.”