All warring parties in Afghanistan must provide guarantees that aid workers will be able to operate freely in the besieged city of Ghazni, UN Special Representative for Afghanistan Tadamichi Yamamoto said in a press release on Wednesday.
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th August, 2018) All warring parties in Afghanistan must provide guarantees that aid workers will be able to operate freely in the besieged city of Ghazni, UN Special Representative for Afghanistan Tadamichi Yamamoto said in a press release on Wednesday.
"Humanitarian actors ready and willing to supply desperately needed assistance must be given explicit, public and absolute guarantees by all parties to the conflict that they will be allowed to operate safely, without hindrance or any attempts to interfere with distribution carried out under humanitarian principles," Yamamoto said.
The casualty toll in Ghazni, he added, is immense among Afghan government forces, Taliban fighters and civilians. Unconfirmed estimates range from 110 to 150 civilian casualties, Yamamoto noted.
The UN envoy said "confidence-building steps" must be taken immediately to reduce the violence and expand common ground between Kabul and the insurgents.
The extreme human suffering caused by the fighting in Ghazni highlights the urgent need for the war in Afghanistan to end, Yamamoto said.
"The United Nations continues to maintain that there can be no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan and stands ready to support any endeavors that would advance peace," he concluded.
Taliban fighters launched a massive attack on Ghazni, a strategic provincial capital on the road between Kabul and Kandahar in the early hours of Friday morning. The siege lasted four days until Taliban fighters withdrew from the city on Tuesday after suffering heavy losses, Tolo news reported. The US military reportedly launched 16 airstrikes to back government forces defending the city, with more than 200 Afghan soldiers killed in fighting.
