Alexander De Croo, head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), has warned that turning the international community’s back on Afghanistan could have serious consequences over the next five to 10 years.
De Croo told Foreign Policy that despite disagreements with the Taliban, the international community should remain engaged with Afghanistan because the country is facing a combination of economic, climate and humanitarian crises.
He added that Afghanistan has been dealing with an economic contraction of nearly 20 percent, the effects of climate change, natural disasters, tensions with neighboring countries and the return of nearly five million migrants from Iran and Pakistan over the past 18 months.
“If a country’s population increases by 12 to 15 percent within a short period due to the return of migrants, managing such an increase is not easy for any country.”
For this reason, Afghanistan needs support from the international community to cope with these pressures, he said.
De Croo emphasized that the international community should use its support for Afghanistan as leverage to advance the rights of women and girls and expand civic space.
