Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

What does 2022 hold for Afghanistan?

Afghanistan has plunged into a deep humanitarian crisis. Foreign aid has been frozen, humanitarian organisations are filling the gap, but they alone cannot support an entire country.

Millions of Afghans have not been paid for months as foreign aid – which used to fund 75% of Afghanistan’s public spending – was frozen following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021.

Podcast host Imogen Foulkes is joined in this episode by humanitarian aid workers.

External Content

“You see girls being essentially sold, girls as young as six, seven, eight. You see children being sold into labour. Already, I’ve seen more malnourished children in the past three, four months than I’ve ever seen in Afghanistan,” says Vicki Aken, Afghanistan country director at the International Rescue Committee (IRC).

“Can the international community hold 39 million people hostage to the fact that they do not want to recognise the authorities that are now in place in Kabul and in Afghanistan,” asks Dominik Stillhart, director of operations at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

With the United Nations warning of famine, the ICRC has started paying healthcare workers directly. But can humanitarian aid alone support an entire country?

“No matter how much aid we deliver, we cannot have a country entirely dependent on the goods we bring into the country. It’s just impossible to deliver at that scale,” says Aken.

“If we want to save Afghanistan and the Afghan population, it is not just by giving money to humanitarian organisations,” adds Stillhart.

External Content

Sign up! The latest updates from International Geneva – in your inbox

For more insights and discussions from Switzerland’s international city, subscribe to Inside Geneva on Apple PodcastsExternal linkSpotifyExternal link, or wherever you get your podcasts. And subscribe to our newsletter, where you’ll hear directly from Imogen Foulkes in your inbox.

More
podcast artwork for the inside geneva podcast

More

Inside Geneva podcast

Inside Geneva Podcast. A podcast about big questions facing the world, put to those working to tackle them in Switzerland’s international city.

Read more: Inside Geneva podcast
More


Popular Stories

Most Discussed

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

Join the conversation!

Contributions must adhere to our guidelines. If you have questions or wish to suggest other ideas for debates, please, get in touch!

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR