For the past 20 years, military and diplomatic forces from around the world occupied central Kabul, filling a green area next to the presidential palace with embassies, military bases and residences. But long before they came, NGOs were working to help reduce poverty in Afghanistan and develop essential health and educational services.
Most of them were careful to distance themselves from US-led military operations starting in 2001. He already had experience working with the Taliban, when it ruled the country in the late 1990s and gained control of rural districts in recent months. and year.
Now, at a time when Afghanistan’s aid needs are more desperate than ever, the diplomatic power of aid organizations is being tested like never before.
Afghanistan, one of the world’s poorest countries, was already desperately in need of a Taliban takeover, with 3.5 million people internally displaced and 18 million dependent on humanitarian aid in a country of nearly 38 million. But aid groups worry they are too quick to embrace an organization like the Taliban with a history of brutality.
“We need to get involved, because this is a very important time to be involved and try to influence,” said Filippo Grandi, the head of the UN refugee agency. “But I think we need to reserve our judgment a little bit.”