RASC News Agency: The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has accused the Taliban of widespread interference in humanitarian operations in Afghanistan. In its latest report, OCHA revealed that humanitarian organizations recorded 173 instances of interference during September, with 98% of these cases linked to the Taliban. OCHA’s report, published on Tuesday, October 22, noted a sharp rise in such incidents, representing a 31% increase from the previous month and a 66% increase compared to the same period last year.
Due to Taliban intervention, 83 humanitarian projects were temporarily suspended, two aid centers were forced to close, and one project had to be relocated. OCHA detailed that the most significant challenges faced by aid organizations included obstruction of humanitarian activities, acts of violence against personnel, assets, and facilities, as well as restrictions on the movement of agencies, staff, and supplies within the country.
The report also highlighted that 88% of the incidents preventing access to humanitarian services in September were a direct result of Taliban interference. These included 73 cases directly impacting program delivery, 35 instances of interference in staff recruitment, 19 demands for sensitive personnel information, five cases affecting procurement processes, five restrictions on women’s participation in humanitarian efforts, three dress code interferences, two demands for illegal taxation, two instances of aid confiscation, one delay in signing memoranda of understanding, one seizure of facilities, and one instance of obstructing aid to deserving women.
Furthermore, OCHA emphasized that humanitarian operations in Afghanistan were severely impacted by violence targeting personnel, assets, and aid facilities, resulting in the arrest of nine aid workers and the forced closure of three centers in September. These persistent incidents, according to OCHA, have increasingly disrupted the operational environment, jeopardizing the safety and security of humanitarian personnel across the country.
