Humanitarian crisis in focus as Italy hosts G20 Afghan summit

Gulf Today Report

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi will host a special summit of the Group of 20 major economies on Tuesday to discuss Afghanistan, as worries grow about a looming humanitarian disaster following the Taliban's return to power.

The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is due to join the summit, underlining the central role given to the United Nations in tackling the crisis — in part because many countries don't want to establish direct relations with the Taliban.

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China has publicly demanded that economic sanctions on Afghanistan be lifted and that billions of dollars in Afghan international assets be unfrozen and handed back to Kabul. It was not clear if this would even be discussed on Tuesday.

While US President Joe Biden, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Europe's G20 leaders were expected to take part in the meeting, Chinese media reported that President Xi Jinping would not participate. It was also not clear if Russian President Vladimir Putin would dial in.

The Taliban delegation arrives to meet the US team in Doha, Qatar, on Sunday. Reuters

Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan on Aug. 15, the country — already struggling with drought and severe poverty after decades of war — has seen its economy all but collapse, raising the spectre of an exodus of refugees.

The video conference, which is due to start at 1pm (1100 GMT), will focus on aid needs, concerns over security and ways of guaranteeing safe passage abroad for thousands of Western-allied Afghans still in the country.

"Providing humanitarian support is urgent for the most vulnerable groups, especially women and children, with winter arriving," said an official with knowledge of the G20 agenda.

The virtual summit comes just days after senior US and Taliban officials met in Qatar for their first face-to-face meeting since the hardline group retook power.

Tuesday's meeting comes less than three weeks before the formal G20 leaders summit in Rome on Oct. 30-31, which is due to focus on climate change, the global economic recovery, tackling malnutrition and the COVID-19 pandemic.