Afghanistan Humanitarian Crisis: UK Response

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Critiques the current aid level as insufficient, citing stark humanitarian conditions and urging for more UK leadership in international efforts. Suggests hosting the UN pledging conference and reinstating dedicated officials from DfID to lead these initiatives.

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The MP thanked his right hon. Friend for securing an urgent question, criticised the Government's response to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, noting that despite warnings of a catastrophe, the UK’s financial support for Afghanistan is at pre-disaster levels, with no commitment yet made towards additional UN-asked funds. He urged the Minister for communications with European counterparts on hosting a global pledging conference and freeing up funds from the World Bank.

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The MP asked how the Minister can work with the Ministry of Defence to practically provide not simply hard cash but food, tents, clothes, and other necessities immediately, given that Afghanistan's harsh winter has already set in.

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The MP questioned why the FCDO cannot find a fraction of the £28 billion spent on military operations in Afghanistan to support the UN’s emergency famine appeal, given that only £176 million out of a committed £286 million has been provided so far.

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The MP suggested recognising the Taliban to help urgent funding reach Afghanistan, pointing out that the UK had handed responsibility to an insurgency knowing it would lead to economic collapse.

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The MP asked if the Minister would commit to a comprehensive statement in Parliament after recess detailing an international and domestic response.

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The MP suggested instructing the Treasury, Financial Conduct Authority, or Bank of England to issue guidance to British banks on sanctions exemptions as issued by US Treasury.

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Let me cut to the chase with the Minister and say that she knows what we must do if we are going to deliver the food to stop this crisis for children. The pictures of children begging, obviously with no food, really gets to all of us, does it not? I have to say to the Minister that she is aware—surely she is aware—that if we are going to get in this food and this help, we have to work with the major international charities. A member of my family is in a very senior role in one of those big agencies. Will she promise me that she will talk to the leaders of those key organisations—she knows who they are—and say, “Are you getting enough resources to deliver on the ground?”? Will she promise to do that today?

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The Minister will know that true political influence comes from having a physical presence. Could she please confirm what the FCDO physically has on the ground in Kabul, and whether that footprint will increase?

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The former Secretary of State for International Development Rory Stewart said yesterday: “It’s unbelievable that an international coalition which could find 130BN dollars a year for Afghanistan when fighting there, cannot find 5 per cent of that amount to prevent millions of Afghans from starving. The West abandoned Afghanistan to the Taliban in August. Now it is abandoning Afghans to starvation. Betrayal follows betrayal.” Can I ask the Minister what the UK Government have done in real terms, working with the international community, to really help prevent the starvation of the Afghan people?

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Alongside the humanitarian issues are many concerns about women. Four women—Parwana Khil, Tamana Paryani, Mursal Ayar and Zahra Mohammadi—have just been seized off the street and imprisoned, and everybody is incredibly worried about them. Does the Minister have any information on their whereabouts, because we are concerned about their safety?

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The Minister mentions Operation Pitting. An Afghan gentleman came to my surgery in agony: his family have not left the house or seen daylight for months and he is worried about what is happening to his country. To add insult to injury, the leave to enter for the 15,000 Afghans who are now here expires at the end of this month. When we add all that strife together, their mental health is suffering. Will the Minister guarantee now at the Dispatch Box that by the end of this month all those Afghans who came here will be given leave to remain?

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What is happening in Afghanistan today is a catastrophe of epic proportions. For those who committed so much to that country, particularly the families of the servicemen and women who lost their lives, the Government’s current trajectory makes their lives harder, not easier, in dealing with that sacrifice. I urge the Government to think again. If we can commit £30 billion to a military project such as Afghanistan, it is obscene that we cannot commit more than 5% in foreign aid to rebuilding that country and saving as many lives as we can, having invested so much over so long.

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Do the Government recognise that this catastrophe will continue to unfold before our eyes unless the Afghan banking system starts working again? In particular, do the Government support the release of frozen Afghan central bank reserves to restore inter-bank lending? On donor funds, whether they are held by the World Bank or being asked for from donors around the world, do the Minister and all those involved understand that we need speed? It may be complex, but people starving or having to sell their children are not interested in complexity; they want help now. A meeting later this month or next month is, frankly, too late.

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Afghanistan has been dependent on foreign aid and FDI since time immemorial. Indeed, my constituency neighbour, the hon. Member for Bolton South East (Yasmin Qureshi), who is no longer in her place, referred to the former Member for Penrith and The Border and the need for at least 5% funding immediately. Western Governments got Afghanistan wrong last August, 10 years ago and 20 years ago. As we look to the future, what will UK-Afghanistan relations and strategy look like?

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Further to the point made by my friend the right hon. Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood), I suspect that the Minister saw the comments from General Lord Richards, who called on the west to come to terms with the Taliban being the Government in Afghanistan. None of us wanted that outcome, but innocent people are starving and freezing to death and it feels like we are sleepwalking into a catastrophe. Will she look again at what more can be done to unfreeze state assets, lift sanctions and restart the Afghan economy, in order to give people in Afghanistan some sense of hope for the future?

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The Afghan citizens resettlement scheme is one of the most generous such schemes in this country’s history. However, while some local authorities are providing homes—they are ready and available—there appear to be delays from the Home Office in processing and matching them to Afghans resettled through the scheme. Will the Minister please ask the Minister for Afghan Resettlement to write to me with an update specifically on the properties offered by Blaby District Council?

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Not only does famine kill, but starvation and malnutrition will scar the bodies and brains of a generation and beyond. Every day that we delay means that recovery will be more expensive than acting now. We need cash in the system and the Afghan economy. If the World Bank could release reconstruction funds today, how quickly could that cash be flowing through the Afghan economy?

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Suggests the need for a confidential facility via the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office for MPs to feed in details of UK citizens trapped in Afghanistan who are under threat from the Taliban.

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Asks about international action and World Bank's role in reconstructing the Afghan economy to address starvation.

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Calls for urgent action to cut through bureaucracy and get food into Afghanistan immediately.

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Asks for quicker and more urgent action from the international community, including facilitating evacuation and resettlement of at-risk Afghans.

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Inquires about support provided to ex-pats and diaspora groups sending remittances and maintaining communication with communities on the ground.

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Asks about coordination of a global plan to keep local schools, clinics, and hospitals running.

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Questions the disparity between spending on war vs. aid despite humanitarian crisis and moral obligation.

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Critiques the inadequacy of current aid efforts and calls for more action.

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Asks about ensuring food reaches Christians and ethnic minorities who are at the bottom of Taliban assistance.