{"id":616,"date":"2021-09-02T10:52:57","date_gmt":"2021-09-02T10:52:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/healthrights.mk\/?p=616"},"modified":"2021-12-20T10:53:25","modified_gmt":"2021-12-20T10:53:25","slug":"eu-pulls-afghanistan-development-funding-call-for-taliban-respect-for-human-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthrights.mk\/?p=616","title":{"rendered":"EU Pulls Afghanistan Development Funding – Call for Taliban Respect for Human Rights"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u0418\u0437\u0432\u043e\u0440: WUNRN \u2013 02.09.2021<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Afghans continue to wait at Kabul International Airport as thousands of Afghans rush to flee the Afghan capital of Kabul, on August 18, 2021.<\/em><\/p>\n

Anadolu Agency | Getty Images<\/em><\/p>\n

EU ends Afghanistan funding, insists that Taliban respect rights (cnbc.com)<\/a><\/p>\n

WUNRN invites you to visit and engage with WUNRN Europe Twitter at:<\/strong> https:\/\/twitter.com\/wunrn_eu<\/a><\/p>\n

LONDON \u2013 August 18, 2021 – The European Union has suspended development funding to Afghanistan after the Taliban seized control of the war-torn country .<\/p>\n

The news comes as European leaders focus on evacuating Europeans from Kabul, as well as Afghans who have helped the bloc over the past two decades.<\/p>\n

Germany and Finland announced Tuesday that they were stopping development aid for the time being. Later in the evening, the EU\u2019s foreign affairs chief confirmed the wider move to stop funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo payments are going on to Afghanistan right now. No payments of development assistance until we clarify the situation,\u201d the EU\u2019s Josep Borrell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to see first what kind of government the Taliban are going to organize,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n

The EU promised in November to donate 1.2 billion euros<\/a> ($1.4 billion) over the next four years in long-term and emergency assistance. These funds were conditional on Afghan authorities preserving democratic pluralism, the rule of law and human rights.<\/p>\n

Last year, Germany pledged 430 million euros in civilian assistance between 2021 and 2024 on the basis that a peaceful resolution to the civil war would take place. The United States at the time also committed to spend $600 million<\/a> in aid to Afghanistan for 2021, according to data from Deutsche Welle.<\/p>\n

Data from the U.N. humanitarian aid coordination agency showed that even before the advance of the Taliban in recent weeks, some 18.4 million people were in need of humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan. Borrell stressed during the press conference that the funds being suspended were different from humanitarian aid, which the EU intends to keep providing.<\/p>\n

Arsla Jawaid, an analyst at consultancy Control Risks, told CNBC on Tuesday that the Taliban are likely to form a government that includes non-Taliban members \u201cin order to keep financial and foreign assistance lines open.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not official recognition<\/strong><\/p>\n

The crisis in Afghanistan raises questions about the EU\u2019s influence around the world, its relationship with the United States and ultimately how it will deal with any influx of refugees.<\/a><\/p>\n

For the time being, Borrell said, it\u2019s crucial to develop dialogue with the Taliban to ensure that evacuations from Kabul are successful.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to get in touch with authorities in Kabul \u2026 whatever they are. The Taliban have won the war,\u201d he said, while adding that this \u201cis not a matter of official recognition, it is a matter of dealing with (them).\u201d<\/p>\n

After a meeting of foreign affairs ministers, Borrell said in a statement: \u201cThe EU calls on all parties in Afghanistan to respect all commitments made and to pursue further an inclusive, comprehensive and enduring political solution. The protection and promotion of all human rights, in particular those of women and girls, must be an integral part of these efforts and women should be supported and able to contribute fully to this process.\u201d<\/p>\n

In their first press conference since taking Kabul, the Taliban claimed that women\u2019s rights will be respected \u201cwithin the framework of Islamic law\u201d \u2014 a vague parameter given the extreme interpretation of the religion that the group is known for.<\/p>\n

The head of the Afghan central bank, Ajmal Ahmady, who has fled the country, has detailed how it\u2019s unlikely that the Taliban will manage<\/a> to get hold of the former government\u2019s $10 billion in assets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u0418\u0437\u0432\u043e\u0440: WUNRN \u2013 02.09.2021 Afghans continue to wait at Kabul International Airport as thousands of Afghans rush to flee the Afghan capital of Kabul, on August 18, 2021. Anadolu Agency | Getty Images EU ends Afghanistan funding, insists that Taliban…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":617,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"post_series":[],"class_list":["post-616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vesti","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthrights.mk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthrights.mk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthrights.mk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthrights.mk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthrights.mk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=616"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/healthrights.mk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":618,"href":"https:\/\/healthrights.mk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616\/revisions\/618"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthrights.mk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthrights.mk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthrights.mk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthrights.mk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=616"},{"taxonomy":"post_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthrights.mk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fpost_series&post=616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}