ICRC Says Previous Engagement With Taliban Benefits Current Dialogue

ICRC Says Previous Engagement With Taliban Benefits Current Dialogue

GENEVA �(UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th September, 2021) �Previous engagement between the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Taliban (banned in Russia as a terrorist organization) helps the organization maintain dialogue with the current leadership of Afghanistan, ICRC President Peter Maurer said in an interview with Sputnik.

"The fact that the ICRC has worked with the Taliban for many decades, that we were engaging with them when they were first in power, we have engaged them when they were not in power, as a party to conflict, and this pays off, in terms of relationship and trust that we have been able to establish with some of the more prominent figures of the movement," Maurer said.

He recalled that the ICRC had visited some Taliban members, who are among the group's leaders today, when they were in detention, noting that the humanitarian organization has a longer tradition of engaging with the militants than other actors.

"We ... certainly do believe that it is not the moment now to leave, but to stay, to engage, to ensure that we can work, to find reasonable compromises for our work between the values that they (the Taliban) represent and the norms that the international system, including ICRC, is representing," he added.

According to the ICRC head, there is currently a combination of crises in Afghanistan � political, economic and humanitarian � that creates such a difficult situation in the country. Maurer noted that the humanitarian one had aggravated in recent years due to increased hostilities, structural poverty and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Maurer believes that Afghanistan is experiencing turmoil in the health system, water supply and sanitation systems, partly to the fact that many experts are now forced to leave their homeland with the Taliban coming to power. The takeover has disrupted supply chains of medicines and medical equipment to hospitals that are now on the brink of collapse, and the food security crisis has become more pronounced due to surges in food prices.

This combination of factors turned Afghanistan into a super fragile country, Maurer said.