The local authorities demand 30% of the food or the money destined for the population. Statements by provincial officials are contradictory, and some have admitted to taking part of their salaries from employees of humanitarian organizations. The living conditions of Afghans are complicated.
Kabul ( / Agencies) – In the central province of Ghor, humanitarian organizations have suspended their operations due to extortion by the Taliban, who demand that 30% of the aid or food destined for the population be delivered to them.
This was revealed by anonymous sources to Amu TV, one of the few remaining independent news agencies in the country: “A Taliban committee visits the organizations to collect the money that should be distributed to the people in the form of humanitarian aid, saying that it is necessary to build the road” from Ghor to Herat. This is why several organizations are not willing to continue their work. NGOs work “for the people of Afghanistan on a project basis”, providing food and fuel for people to pass winter, added another source.
The situation was also confirmed by an operator of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), who explained that it is not the first time that the Taliban has asked the agencies for part of the aid: “In many districts of the province of Ghor The Taliban have hijacked food and other aid under the pretext of building a road.” The Taliban hijacked the agencies’ aid mainly in the Du Layna and Pasaban districts, and in some parts of the city of Firozkoh.
Meanwhile, poverty, unemployment, the cold (which has already claimed numerous lives) and now also the suspension of humanitarian aid continue to aggravate the living conditions of the Afghan population, and especially of the internally displaced persons who are in Ghor province: “I came here because of poverty, but there is no work,” Ibrahim, one of the displaced, told Amu TV. “My wife, I and our three children have depended on the help of organizations to survive for three years. If the Taliban prevent help from arriving, we have nothing to eat and nothing to heat our house. Come to see”.
Taliban statements so far have been contradictory: the provincial governor’s spokesman said Taliban authorities have never extorted the agencies. On the contrary, they would have invented an excuse for not distributing aid for more than a month. However, another local official heading the Department of Information and Culture said that “employees working for some organizations in Ghor, and not directly for humanitarian agencies, have been asked to hand over a percentage of their salaries.”
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has repeatedly reiterated that after the Taliban seized power in August 2021 and international bank transfers stopped, money sent to Afghanistan is deposited in UN accounts. in private banks, it is used exclusively by UN agencies for humanitarian purposes, and is not delivered to the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
