UN envoy meets new Afghan interior minister Sirajuddin Haqqani

UNSG Antonio Guterres tells an international aid conference that Afghans were facing perhaps their most perilous hour

A UN envoy has met Afghanistan’s new interior minister who was for years was one of the world’s most wanted men and is now part of a government trying to head off a humanitarian crisis.

The meeting between Deborah Lyons, head of the UN mission in Afghanistan, and Sirajuddin Haqqani focused on humanitarian assistance, Suhail Shaheen, a Taliban spokesperson, said in a statement on Twitter on Thursday.

“(Haqqani) stressed that UN personnel can conduct their work without any hurdle and deliver vital aid to the Afghan people,” he said.

Afghanistan was already facing chronic poverty and drought but the situation has deteriorated since the Taliban took over last month with the disruption of aid, the departure of tens of thousands of people including government and aid workers and the collapse of much economic activity.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told an international aid conference this week that Afghans were facing “perhaps their most perilous hour”.

The UN mission in Afghanistan said that in the Wednesday meeting Lyons had stressed the “absolute necessity for all UN and humanitarian personnel in Afghanistan to be able to work without intimidation or obstruction to deliver vital aid and conduct work for Afghan people”.

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Haqqani, head of the eponymous network founded by his father, is one of the FBI’s most wanted men with a reward of $10 million for information leading to his arrest.

US officials and members of the old US-backed Afghan government for years said the Haqqani network maintained ties with al Qaeda. The Taliban have promised not to let Afghanistan be used for attacks on other countries.