Taliban: UN Agencies Import Substandard Medicines and Food Supplies into Afghanistan
Tawazon – At a time when the majority of Afghanistan’s public hospitals, clinics, and healthcare centers are being operated with the assistance of the United Nations, particularly the World Health Organization (WHO), the Taliban’s Acting Minister of Public Health claimed in a press conference in Kabul on Wednesday that the World Food Programme (WFP) has imported 6,750 tons of substandard food items into Afghanistan that are now unfit for use.
According to Noor Jalal Jalali, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) also imported 650 diagnostic kits for tuberculosis, the majority of which were past their expiration date. He added that the specifications of the TB diagnostic kits provided by UNDP do not align with the documentation submitted by the organization. Additionally, the World Food Programme has reportedly brought substandard food products under the brand name Super Cereal into the country.
The Taliban’s Ministry of Public Health claims that some UN agencies have already acknowledged these problems. Jalali stated that WFP also transported 55 tons of Premix food items into Afghanistan without assessing the country’s capacity for storage or utilization. These items, he said, had expired prior to use. He described this as a clear waste of aid, stating that weak management has led to the misallocation of resources and diminished the effectiveness of humanitarian assistance.
The Acting Minister warned that the Ministry’s Directorate for Food and Drugs will take action against officials from international organizations found to be responsible for the import of expired or poor-quality medicines and food supplies into Afghanistan.
He urged humanitarian organizations to deliver assistance in a transparent and accountable manner, aligned with the needs of the Afghan people and in consideration of what he described as violations committed by the United Nations.
Jalali also spoke about the domestic production of medicines, noting that Afghanistan has now reached self-sufficiency in the production of 15 types of pharmaceutical and healthcare products.
As of now, UN agencies have not responded to the allegations.
