The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is only getting worse, according to Jan Egeland, who is in the country for the fifth time in five years.
- The poverty is horrible, we are talking about acute need, he says on the phone from Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan.
In the past three years, an already alarming situation has worsened. One reason is that six million Afghans have been expelled from, above all, Pakistan and Iran. Many of them were born abroad and have never been to Afghanistan. They arrive in a country that completely lacks the resources to receive them. There are no homes or schools, health care is lacking.
- They come empty-handed to a country where already many millions are in urgent need of help. It is a catastrophic situation, says Jan Egeland.
Families have to live in homes that sometimes have no roof and only walls made of cardboard. The hardest hit are women and children. The Taliban have imposed a series of rules that limit their opportunities for schooling, work and mobility.
At the same time, aid to Afghanistan has fallen drastically, by 70 percent in three years, and aid organizations on the ground are working with limited resources.
Jan Egeland notes that the US and other NATO countries promised in connection with the dramatic withdrawal from Afghanistan five years ago that they would not abandon the civilian population. At the time, the country had been in a war for 20 years, which began after the terrorist attack on September 11 in the United States. Shortly after the withdrawal, the Taliban once again took power in Afghanistan. Since then, the population has been abandoned, says Egeland.
- The women and girls that the US promised to help are completely forgotten.
The Taliban's initial signals that they would be more open and humane than when they ruled with strict Sharia law in 1996–2001 have turned out to be empty talk. Shortly after they took office, a series of restrictions were introduced, which particularly affect girls and women. Children are only allowed to attend school up to the sixth grade and women are barred from a range of professions. Mandates on how women should dress have gone out and are controlled by the morality police, who also punish men who don't have beards.
Sweden, and most other countries in the West, have cut off diplomatic contact with Afghanistan since the Taliban came back to power. It is the wrong way to go, according to Jan Egeland. He thinks more diplomats should travel to the country and try to influence the Taliban.
- The only way to improve the situation for women and children in Afghanistan is to fight for them here on the ground, and not at a seminar in New York, Geneva or somewhere in Scandinavia. That's why I'm here now, to talk to the Taliban in Kabul and Kandahar.
It is possible to influence the Taliban, he believes. For example, his organization has several female aid workers, despite the regime issuing a decree banning them from working for non-profit organizations.
Now he is trying to influence the ruling Taliban so that girls will be allowed to go to school, which they promised when they took office. The answer he gets is that girls should be educated when "the right conditions" exist for the teaching to be in accordance with the religion. One problem is that the Taliban want girls to be taught by female teachers. At the same time, the number of female teachers is decreasing after the Taliban banned women from attending teacher training.
"I spoke to a grandmother whose granddaughter had been sold as a child bride for $100."
During his visit to Afghanistan, Jan Egeland has met families who cannot afford either food or to send their children to school. He has met working children.
Some parents even sell their children.
- I spoke to a grandmother whose granddaughter had been sold as a child bride for 100 dollars. That's how deep poverty is, he says.
Jan Egeland calls on Sweden and other European countries to increase humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.
- The need has increased. You should also send diplomats here and ask for a meeting with the Taliban. If you want to help women and girls in Afghanistan, you have to be there.
He understands that countries do not want to give development aid to the Taliban regime. But it is possible to ensure that the money goes directly to those in need, without intermediaries, he believes.
- For example, we give cash directly in the hands of mothers. None of our funds go through the Taliban authorities.
