The Kabul Tribune (KT) — Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, has arrived in Afghanistan for his fifth visit since the Taliban took power in 2021, warning that the country’s humanitarian response is shrinking despite immense needs.
Egeland said the Norwegian Refugee Council has remained in
Afghanistan throughout years of turmoil and uncertainty, but he has witnessed a
continued erosion of living conditions and basic rights during each of his
visits since the Taliban returned to power.
He said people can now move more freely around what he
described as a peaceful Afghanistan, but the humanitarian response has become
smaller with each of his visits because of a lack of international funding.
During his latest visit, Egeland said he met mothers who had
nothing to give their children and families who had been forcibly returned from
Pakistan with nothing to a country he said was unable to support millions more
people.
He also said he met parents who desperately want their
daughters to receive an education.
Egeland praised his organization’s staff in Afghanistan for
their work but said the Norwegian Refugee Council’s operations are being
severely limited by funding shortages.
“When NATO countries hastily withdrew, they promised not to
forget the people of Afghanistan,” Egeland said.
“What we see on the ground are promises forgotten and a
population that is utterly ignored,” he said.
