UNHCR chief's visit to Kabul comes amid heightened global attention to Ukraine

The head of the UN refugee agency arrived in the Afghan capital on Tuesday at the height of global attention to Russia's military invasion of Ukraine and the humanitarian crisis in the country.

The Associated Press writes that Filippo Grandi's goal in his trip to Kabul was to tell Afghans that they have not been forgotten, a message that is much needed in today's Afghanistan under Taliban rule and the spread of poverty in the country.

In an interview with this news agency, Mr. Grandi said that some have wondered why he traveled to Kabul at this time, but despite the attention being focused elsewhere, the crisis in Afghanistan remains deep.

A report on Tuesday by the UN agency responsible for coordinating humanitarian aid said that 96 percent of Afghanistan's 38 million population do not have enough food.

Mr. Grandi met with Taliban leaders in Kabul on Tuesday before traveling to Kandahar and Nangarhar provinces in southern and eastern Afghanistan. He confirmed that he had seen progress since his previous visit to Afghanistan in September.

He said that Taliban leaders, having come from the battlefield to the ruling apparatus, are creating structures and using strategies to contain urgent issues and have now "gained more experience."

But he also warned that given the scale of the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, overcoming "all this suffering, all this hunger, all this despair... will take time."

Previously, the UN Secretary-General had warned the Security Council in a report that Afghanistan "is on the brink of a precipice, with millions of people suffering from extreme hunger, public services such as education and health on the verge of collapse, and a lack of sufficient financial resources has limited the ability to help those in need."

Source: Radio Farda