On September 05, 2022, The Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies held a webinar on “Coordination, Reporting and Transparency of the International Humanitarian Response in Afghanistan: Critically Evaluating the Role of the UN”. The Webinar featured Dr. Orzala Nemat, Director of Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU), Mohammad Yasin Samim, activist, and Executive Director, Assembly of Hazara Social Associations (AHSA), Fran Equiza, UN Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan, Dr. Nematullah Bizhan, Lecturer at Australian National University & Senior Research Associate at Oxford University. The session was moderated by Ahmad Shuja Jamal, co-author of the forthcoming book titled The Decline and Fall of Republican Afghanistan.
Panelists discussed how the absence of the economy and public services which on Augest 15, 2022, is adding to the current crisis. Panelists shared their research findings and organizational experiences regarding the widespread humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, the large scale of needs, the volume of humanitarian aid, and the challenges in the process of distributing aid, including the pressures and interference by the Taliban and members of this group. Members of the panel also disused issues around transparency and the role of the UN in ensuring the effectiveness of aids delivery, transparency, and reporting as well as the dimension of equality, which includes providing assistance to women-headed households, minorities and people in most needs.