ICRC chief says reluctance to support Afghan economy to become ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’ – The National

ICRC chief says reluctance to support Afghan economy to become ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’ – The National

President of the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) Peter Maurer has said that the international community’s reluctance to help the Afghan economy get restarted after the precipitous American withdrawal could become a “self-fulfilling prophecy”.

In an interview with The National on Wednesday during his visit to the UAE, Mr Maurer said that the international community “appears to have settled on the formula that humanitarian aid is OK, but nothing more”.

However, he stressed that “humanitarian aid has never been designed to substitute a dysfunctional system. It is meant to cope with momentarily disrupted situations”, not be a substitute for government structure and an economy.