WASHINGTON - The United Nations Security Council on Tuesday unanimously extended its mission in Afghanistan for another year.
As a result, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan -- called UNAMA for short -- will be in the country at least till March 17, 2017, unless further extended.
“In 2016, Afghanistan is being as severely tested as it was in 2015, by the task of managing its difficult transition with its interrelated political, economic and security challenges,” said the UNAMA head.
In his address to the Security Council, Nicholas Haysom listed the hurdles being faced by the government, including a contracting economy, an intensifying insurgency.
An increasingly divided political environment, significant medium-term financial demand and the need to achieve progress towards sustainable peace were cited as other challenges.
In its 57-paragraphresolution, the Council called for full respect for human rights and expressed concern at illicit opium cultivation, the increased number of internally displaced persons, and the recruitment and use of children in suicide attacks by the Taliban, Al-Qaida and other extremist groups.
The World Bank expects low economic growth, off a low base, which in turn has resulted in high unemployment, with hundreds of thousands of young people entering the work force each year and finding no jobs. (Pajhwok)