In test, U.N. skirts Taliban to pay Afghan health workers
The IndependentFor free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy The United Nations has paid nearly $8 million in salaries to some 23,500 health workers across Afghanistan over the past month, bypassing the Taliban-run health ministry in a test case to inject much needed liquidity into a dire Afghan economy. It’s reignited healthcare services,” said Wignaraja, adding that the program would now be run by the World Health Organization and the UN children’s agency UNICEF for the next three months. After showing it could work, the United Nations would continue using the formal banking system and money service providers to get cash into Afghanistan for the next few months, Wignaraja said, although she added that UN agencies were also considering a need to bring US dollars into the country. “This has been for us a pretty crazy test run of the system,” she said of the payments to health workers, adding that she hoped international donors were “watching it really closely.”
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