By Silvia Marchetti
ROME (MaceNews) – The G20 extraordinary summit on Afghanistan held on Tuesday under the Italian presidency mandated the United Nations with the task of defining a global ‘road map’ to tackle the humanitarian crisis and avoid the financial collapse of the nation.
At the end of the online event, Italian premier Mario Draghi called the virtual summit a “success” and said “multilateralism was slowly but finally returning” as all key nations agreed on a unified action plan.
“We have decided to hand over to the UN a mandate for a coordinated, direct response in Afghanistan” to address “the humanitarian catastrophe, expected to worsen in winter,” said Draghi during a press conference.
The top G20 priority is to avoid the economic and financial collapse of Afghanistan, and prevent a payments freeze in the country, said Draghi, by rescuing its main banks through direct financial aid, with support from the World Bank and the International Monterey Fund. The European Union on Tuesday earmarked USD 1 billion in humanitarian aid, Draghi said.
“If the financial system collapses, if the banks go down, the fundamentals of the country are hit and then there is no way global humanitarian aid can be efficient. We are all responsible for the Afghan crisis,” he said.
“The G20 leaders agreed that we cannot allow Afghanistan to revert back to being a global terrorism lair, that Kabul’s airport must remain open to coordinate aid and that nearby countries in the region must be involved in the global action plan,” added Draghi.
The meeting agenda also focused on the Afghan migrant crisis, equality for women, and ensuring human rights and education services in Afghanistan.
The summit, which Draghi had pressed for since he rose to power in February, marked the first time in history that G20 leaders addressed these topics of geopolitical interest.
Even though both the Chinese and Russian leaders did not take part in the video meeting and were represented by subordinates, Draghi brushed this away as “no big deal” and noted that Russia and China had taken part in pre-summit meetings and that their future involvement remained crucial in solving the Afghan crisis.
Draghi said all G20 members agreed that involving the Taliban in the G20 response plan was necessary to handle the Afghan emergency, but that it didn’t mean an automatic legal recognition. The G20 decision came one day after the US held its first round of direct aid talks with the Taliban since its exit.
“It is too soon for that, recognition will depend on the Taliban’s actions and what they decide to do, if they make progress on issues like gender equality and ensuring Afghan society ‘inclusivity’ which they so much preached. If and when (recognition) will come, it means all word leaders agree on it,” said Draghi.