Washington presents a proposal to facilitate humanitarian aid to Afghanistan What is it?

The United States presents to the UN Security Council a draft resolution to facilitate the dispatch of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan over a year. Washington had abandoned, under pressure from Beijing, the idea of ​​finding a mechanism for this aid, which it did not want the Taliban regime to benefit from.

The United States submitted to the UN Security Council a draft resolution facilitating the provision of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan over a year, after it abandoned, under pressure from China, the idea of ​​creating a mechanism dedicated to each case for this assistance, which it does not want the Taliban regime to benefit from.

Significant amendments were made to the draft resolution compared to a first version rejected by China, Russia, India, France and the United Kingdom. The text was sent to the council on Monday evening and could go to a vote soon, according to diplomats.

The draft resolution states that "humanitarian assistance and other activities related to basic humanitarian needs in Afghanistan during a one-year period do not constitute a breach" of Resolution 2255 of 2015, which imposes sanctions on entities linked to the Taliban.

The project states that it is permitted to "administer and pay money, financial assets or economic resources and provide goods for services necessary to secure such assistance or support such activities."

It is not yet known the position of China, which has the veto power, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, regarding this text, which “strongly encourages humanitarian aid providers” to “minimize any direct or indirect benefit that may benefit the persons or entities targeted by sanctions.” .

Earlier, Russia, backed by China, blocked a first version of a draft resolution submitted by the United States to the UN Security Council that would allow exemptions from sanctions for humanitarian purposes on a case-by-case basis.

"Humanitarian and vital aid must be able to reach the Afghan people without any hindrance," Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations Zhang Jun said in a tweet Monday evening, adding that "artificially created conditions or restrictions are unacceptable."

In response to Chinese criticism, an entire paragraph was deleted from the first US draft regarding the exemption mechanism for each case.

As for limiting the scope of the resolution to one year, which was not mentioned in the first version of the US draft resolution, it is intended to satisfy Washington's European allies, who have criticized the lack of any deadline for the resolution and demanded strong oversight of the destination of the assistance provided.

There is currently no humanitarian exception in the sanctions regime, and the adoption of a similar resolution by the Security Council would allow humanitarian workers to "conduct financial transactions with ministries that are handled by persons covered by sanctions" without violating these sanctions, a diplomat told the press. The French asked not to be named.

Since the return of the Taliban to power in mid-August, the United States has frozen about $9.5 billion in assets of the Afghan Central Bank.

On December 10, the World Bank, which suspended its assistance to Kabul at the end of August, announced the provision of $280 million in humanitarian aid to UNICEF and the World Food Program so that these two agencies could distribute it in Afghanistan.

However, this amount is considered insufficient because the country is on the verge of financial and economic collapse.