PRESS CONFERENCE ON UNITED NATIONS HUMANITARIAN EFFORTS IN AFGHANISTAN, PAKISTAN
At a Headquarters press conference today, top United Nations relief officials described their recent trips to Afghanistan and Pakistan to assess ongoing humanitarian operations and the future needs in those neighbouring South Asian nations, which have faced conflict, food shortages and floods.
Catherine Bragg, Assistant Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, told reporters that the United Nations was asking international donors for $678 million in humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan next year to help some 7 to 8 million people there still going hungry and burdened by ongoing conflict and endemic natural disasters.
Ms. Bragg said she launched that appeal on Saturday during a mission to the South Asian nation, where she met with Government and United States military officials, the Provincial Reconstruction Team and humanitarian organizations in the capital, Kabul, as well as the southern city of Kandahar.
"The humanitarian situation in the country is simply not getting the attention that it deserves," Ms. Bragg said, stressing that the new appeal aimed to change that.
Last year, two major floods had displaced thousands of Afghans, and food price hikes due to drought in the Russian Federation and floods in neighbouring Pakistan had left millions reliant on food aid.