Situation in Afghanistan

Former deputy speaker of Afghanistan’s parliament

24 Jan 2022 2 2

Nayera Koahistani

Inserted 2 years ago

“I want to tell the world, tell the Taliban to stop killing. We want freedom, we want justice, we want human rights. Women's rights are human rights. We must defend our rights.”

Protester in Kabul

28 Dec 2021 5 3

Imran Khan

Inserted 2 years ago

“Unless action is taken immediately, Afghanistan is heading for chaos. Any government when it can't pay its salaries for its public servants, hospitals, doctors, nurses, any government is going to collapse but chaos suits no one, it certainly does not suit the United States.”

Prime Minister of Pakistan

19 Dec 2021 1 4

Kamal Hyder

Inserted 2 years ago

“All eyes will be on the conference. It will be important to see whether these countries, which is the second largest group of nations after the United Nations, will be able to come up with a tangible solution to help Afghanistan in its crisis.”

Al Jazeera’s journalist reporting from Islamabad

19 Dec 2021 3 2

Hamid Karzai

Inserted 2 years ago

“I have had conversations with them [Taliban] on a lot of issues--the return of women to back to work. The schools, the flag of the country, the national flag of the country. And the need for a political process, for a government that belongs to all Afghans, that all Afghans see as theirs--that is inclusive. We really ... want them to go back to school - the girls - not only to schools but to universities, but to the workplace. Yes, we have had talks about this with the Taliban. They hear me on this. They understand it and they say that it will happen. We say that it should happen now, immediately.”

Former President of Afghanistan

03 Dec 2021 2 3

Patricia Gossman

Inserted 2 years ago

“The Taliban leadership's promised amnesty has not stopped local commanders from summarily executing or disappearing former Afghan security force members. The burden is on the Taliban to prevent further killings, hold those responsible to account, and compensate the victims' families.”

Hrw

Associate Asia director at Human Rights Watch

30 Nov 2021 6 2

Emmerson Gono

Inserted 2 years ago

“The health system of Afghanistan was very donor dependent, and the donors withdrew their support. The implications of that cut-off are tragic, and felt immediately. We are getting overwhelmed with the workload, people are coming from all over the province and even other provinces. We go far beyond our capacity, because we will not turn away someone we see is critically ill.”

Project coordinator for MSF in Helmand (Afghanistan)

21 Nov 2021 2 3

Saeed Khosti

Inserted 2 years ago

“The Islamic Emirate is committed to not allowing anyone to abuse Afghanistan's soil against others. There is also no one in Afghanistan to pose threats to anyone.”

Afghan interior ministry’s spokesman

19 Nov 2021 1 1

Hasib Yousefi

Inserted 2 years ago

“I have worked for around 15 years in various media outlets. My job was directing and programming and I worked for 10 years at Khurshid TV. After I lost my job, and with the increased level of poverty and misery in our country, with the little money that I had I bought this cart to work and be prepared for the winter.”

Afghan employee of a private media outlet now street vendor in Kabul

10 Nov 2021 2 3

David Beasley

Inserted 2 years ago

“It is as bad as you possibly can imagine. In fact, we're now looking at the worst humanitarian crisis on Earth. Ninety-five percent of the people don't have enough food, and now we're looking at 23 million people marching towards starvation. The next six months are going to be catastrophic. It is going to be hell on Earth.”

Bbc

Executive Director of the World Food Programme

08 Nov 2021 4 3

Heather Barr

Inserted 2 years ago

“Access to education is another issue. As you know, the vast majority of girls' secondary schools are still closed, and even primary schools that are open seem very low attended by girls and by boys as well - so a huge proportion of the children in Afghanistan are being denied the right to education at the moment. And this leads to another problem which is child marriage. We know that the combination of poverty and lack of access to education is driving up child marriage and we have also seen the incredibly disturbing reports about families selling their children - almost always girls - to pay for food.”

Interim co-director of the Women's Rights Division at Human Rights Watch

08 Nov 2021 4 3

Angela Merkel

Inserted 2 years ago

“I want to tell the people of Afghanistan that we are of course very sad about the fact that we simply did not manage to achieve what we wanted to do, namely find a self-sustaining political order in Afghanistan, one in which girls can go to school, women can fulfil their wishes, and with lasting peace. The blame for this lies not with Germany alone. The Afghans, for their part, did not get it done either. It is simply very regrettable.”

Chancellor of Germany

08 Nov 2021 4 2

Shah Mehrabi

Inserted 2 years ago

“The situation is desperate and the amount of cash is dwindling. There is enough right now ... to keep Afghanistan going until the end of the year. Europe is going to be affected most severely, if Afghanistan does not get access to this money. You will have a double whammy of not being able to find bread and not being able to afford it. People will be desperate. They are going to go to Europe.”

Reuters

Board member of the Afghan Central Bank

29 Oct 2021 2 3

Ahmad Wali Haqmal

Inserted 2 years ago

“The money belongs to the Afghan nation. Just give us our own money. Freezing this money is unethical and is against all international laws and values.”

Reuters

Afghanistan finance ministry spokesman

29 Oct 2021 3 3

Sulaiman Bin Shah

Inserted 2 years ago

“Nobody is presenting a comprehensive view on how the future of Afghanistan's economic future will look.”

Former Afghan deputy minister of Industry and Commerce

29 Oct 2021 1 3

Zalmay Khalilzad

Inserted 2 years ago

“If the Taliban don't move toward more inclusiveness, respecting the rights of the Afghan people, and then honoring their commitment to us on terrorism; there will be no move towards normalcy and there shouldn't be. There should be no release of funds. So their economy could collapse and in that collapse a new civil war could start.”

Former US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation

25 Oct 2021 3 6

Zainullah Zermal

Inserted 2 years ago

“We have more than 70 children here and numbers are increasing. Although malnutrition cases usually rise with the approach of winter, this year's cases were alarming and the hospital was struggling to cope. So far, most children had a good chance of survival, but he was worried about the coming weeks. We're now seeing more families arriving from far away. Some of them travel for days to seek medical care as there are no hospitals near them. Winter is coming and that's when malnutrition usually spikes.”

Paediatrician at Mirwais hospital in Kandahar

25 Oct 2021 1 3

David Beasley

Inserted 2 years ago

“Afghanistan is now among the world's worst humanitarian crises - if not the worst - and food security has all but collapsed. This winter, millions of Afghans will be forced to choose between migration and starvation. We are on a countdown to catastrophe.”

Executive Director of the World Food Programme

25 Oct 2021 5 3

Sergey Lavrov

Inserted 2 years ago

“Numerous terrorist groups, notably the Islamic State and al-Qaida are trying to take advantage of the instability in the country mounting bloody attacks. There is a real danger of terrorism and drugs spilling into the neighbouring nations under the guise of migration.”