“Thanks to our discreet diplomacy, the Taliban accept and support the delivery by the IOC of humanitarian aid to members of the Olympic community still living in Afghanistan.”, the president of the Olympic body declared to the press Thomas Bach.
The IOC executive commission decided to allocate a game of $ 560,000 (493,000 euros) for about 2,000 Olympic and Paralympic athletes of all disciplines, which will be distributed on the ground by the UN High Commissioner for refugees.
This aid joins the previous interventions of the WATCH in Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power in mid-August, followed by the evacuation of nearly 300 Afghan athletes, coaches and officials thanks to humanitarian visas obtained by various national Olympic committees of their respective governments.
But while those visas are increasingly “more difficult to obtain,” as he acknowledged on Tuesday Thomas Bach, the IOC pledged on November 18 to hold talks with the Taliban about the people who stayed on Afghan soil, especially women and young girls.
“We clearly explained to them that free access to sport, without any gender, ethnic, religious or other discrimination, is fundamental for the respect of the Olympic Charter”, assured the leader.
The Afghan case is also the occasion for the WATCH to defend his “discreet diplomacy”, a term used recently to justify his controversial intervention in the case of Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai, who disappeared for several weeks after having publicly denounced the sexual assault of which she was a victim by the former Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli.
Peng Shuai’s first interview with a foreign interlocutor was with Thomas Bach, on a video call on November 21, followed by another in early December.
Charged with serving Beijing propaganda, the WATCH he considers it “more effective” to act with discretion to ensure the “well-being and safety” of the player, not to mention the accusations he made.
Source From: Ambito
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