Statement of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in Rome, Italy   

 To

The Upcoming G20 Rome Summit

29 October 2021

The Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in Rome presents its compliments to the members of the G20 Rome Summit for their friendship and solidarity with the people of Afghanistan and particularly for convening the G20 Extraordinary Summit on Afghanistan.

While this year’s Rome Summit agenda is resting upon three main pillars namely People, Planet and Prosperity (recovering from the pandemic, addressing climate change, and supporting innovation to overcoming poverty and inequality), Afghanistan is facing one of the most complex humanitarian and climate crises of its recent history. Currently, fourteen million Afghans (1 in 3 Afghans) face severe hunger; around three million Afghan children are at risk of acute malnutrition; 22.8 million Afghans could face acute hunger during wintertime; and 97% of all Afghans could plunge into poverty by mid-2022. Afghanistan is also in the grips of its second drought in four years. The country is dealing with sever climate change issues for decades, causing drought and leaving inadequate pasture for a country that agriculture and livestock directly affects almost 80% of its population. Severe drought is considered to be directly affecting 7.3 million Afghans in 25 of the country’s 34 provinces and putting 3 million of their livestock at risk of mortality. The vicious cycle of climate change has also caused water and land scarcity, which have further led to poverty, instability, environmental degradation, and the depletion of resources in the country.

In view of the above, while the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan sincerely appreciates the persistent generous assistance of the international community and members of the G20 Rome Summit – particularly the latest $1.2 billion pledge of over one hundred countries and thirty international and regional organizations for the people of Afghanistan – we simultaneously urge them to also consider the concrete possibility of the economic collapse of Afghanistan, should an intervention in favor of humanitarian assistance and an all-inclusive political solution does not take place. We further urge that the international community and members of G20 Rome Summit take maximum aid effectiveness measures to ensure that assistance is delivered to the most vulnerable people and on the basis of needs alone. This collective effort should help reach more Afghan beneficiaries for assistance and thus save more lives this winter. Lastly, we further emphasize to expedite the disbursement of their generous financial aid pledges to help avert worst-scenarios if lifesaving aid fails to reach those in acute need.

The Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in Rome will remain affirm in providing full support and assistance to the international assistance community and humanitarian actors to accomplish this extremely important life-saving mission. Once again, we sincerely thank the members of the G20 Rome Summit, particularly the Republic of Italy, for paying special attention to Afghanistan and its people.