Volkswacht Bodensee - Afghan people should 'not be abandoned': top Red Cross official

ICRC director of operations Yasmine Praz Dessimoz told AFP in an interview in Kabul that Afghans are "struggling to survive with significant humanitarian needs" and a collapsing health system.

One million Afghan children face life-threatening malnutrition, while 3.7 million suffer from acute malnutrition, the United Nations children's agency UNICEF warned last week.

Owing to the decrease in international aid, 100 clinics that had treated malnutrition in children have closed across the country, the UN said recently.

Afghanistan remains among the top five ICRC operations worldwide, but due to funding cuts "we had to make those difficult choices in order to remain alongside the Afghan population," Praz Dessimoz said.

"Afghan people need national and international support," she added.

The ICRC supports 46 clinics and seven rehabilitation centres across Afghanistan, including services for people wounded in conflict or by unexploded ordnance.

It has made the Durand Line, a colonial-era frontier that Kabul has never formally recognised, a priority, focusing on communities affected by the conflict between Afghanistan and Pakistan as it can engage with parties on both sides.

Clashes between the neighbouring countries intensified last October and continued into the spring, displacing thousands of people in Afghanistan and killing and wounding hundreds of civilians.

Praz Dessimoz expressed concern over the restrictions imposed on women by Taliban authorities, including bans on education higher than primary school and certain professions.

"We could keep our female staff in our health support," but the major concern is "what is next? Because if the new generation is not educated, then there won't be any replacement".

She stressed the importance of women health workers, "in order then to deliver (care) and to be close to a woman".

In her week-long visit, she met Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi and Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.

"What is important is to be able to engage, to be able to have a dialogue with them," Praz Dessimoz said.

The Taliban government, which returned to power five years ago, is officially recognised only by Russia.

J.Marty--VB