Reports published some time ago suggested that the Taliban had been receiving financial shipments from the United Nations in Afghanistan, but were wasting them instead of helping Afghans. The Taliban denied these reports and assertions, claiming that they were not involved in the financing or support of relief organizations. The Office of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) released a statement at the time, refuting this statement and confirming that all humanitarian aid funds had been transferred to the organization‘s designated accounts and that no money had ever been delivered to the Taliban–controlled Central Bank of Afghanistan. For the benefit of organizations connected to the United Nations, funds from this organization are kept in a private bank, where they are used to provide humanitarian aid to millions of Afghans in need.
The United Nations has reported that over 25 million Afghans are in need of humanitarian aid. Since the Taliban assumed power, 1.8 billion dollars in financial aid has been provided, and the Taliban have not had control over these funds.
Despite the influx of millions of dollars in cash, Afghanistan‘s population of hungry and impoverished people is increasing daily. Afghans were dissatisfied with the manner in which this aid was provided. The Taliban played a major and essential role in distributing food and compiling a list of people and areas, which is why there are long lines of the poor. It is widely believed that the Taliban includes their own people and relatives on its list of the poor, thus denying aid to those who truly need it. However, it is now a painful reality that a significant portion of this aid is delivered to the Taliban and their families in various ways, according to several local employees of aid groups, government personnel, and public opinion.
Wahidullah, a local worker of the World Food Organization in Balkh Province, informed Hasht–e–Subh that the Taliban regularly urge and occasionally demand that humanitarian organizations deliver food to specific locations. He stated that the Taliban pressure these groups into complying with their requests, or else they are unable to provide aid that operates in 15 provinces and works with the necessary ministries to assist in the areas of agriculture, health, and education. He noted that many provinces suffer from a severe lack of standard healthcare services, medicines, and healthcare experts, particularly for women, and that he does not believe that these aids are sufficient.
Ziarat Gul, a poor farmer from the Imam Saheb area of Kunduz Province, asserts that aid is not distributed equitably. He states that the UN‘s assistance is not a novel concept to the citizens of his nation, who ceased cultivating their fruit trees, potatoes, and wheat during the winter of last year. The Taliban allegedly included their own people on the ultimate list of aid beneficiaries, yet the impoverished never receive the aid that is supposedly allocated to them.
Approximately fifty percent of UN aid is distributed to the Taliban through a variety of methods, according to anonymous Kabul City officials. One of these methods is through the imams of mosques. It is alleged that a substantial number of Taliban intelligence agents are employed in Kabul and the provinces as imams at mosques and are generously compensated from various sources. These imams monitor the local mosques and communicate with the Taliban. This Taliban employee asserted that in addition to receiving a generous salary from the Ministries of Interior Affairs and Hajj and Endowments, mosque authorities also collected 100 Afghanis each month from each household.
This is important in regards to the distribution of UN aid. The Imams of the mosques and the crossing‘s attorneys first compile a list of the desired people, which is then shared with the relief organizations. In accordance with the list, which is collected every month, they regularly assist in locating the cards containing food, fuel, chemical fertilizers, and genetically modified wheat. He continued that many of the people on the list—including Taliban members and their relatives—are also on the aid list, along with a small number of locals and those who require assistance.
Eyewitnesses have claimed that, in addition to paying taxes and investing in the markets, the Taliban also receive a significant amount of aid from the UN through various indirect methods. Many Afghans have expressed their dissatisfaction with the mismanagement and distribution of these aids, and have raised various concerns regarding their use. According to the World Food Organization‘s report, Afghanistan experienced unprecedented levels of hunger and malnutrition in 2017. The Taliban must use the covert channels available to them in order for UN aid to reach the impoverished. Millions of people are at risk of dying from the famine and hunger that threaten them, while the Taliban gain power from these aids.
