Donors have returned $ 280m to help fight famine in Afghanistan | Issues of Humanitarian Relief
A World Bank-funded fund provides $ 180m to the World Food Program for food aid and $ 100m to UNICEF for health.
Donors around the world have agreed to transfer $ 280m from the Fifth Five Fund to the World Food Program (WFP) and UNICEF to support health and well-being in Afghanistan, the World Bank has said in a bid to help a country facing famine and economic collapse.
The World Bank-administered Afghan Reconstruction Trust Fund this year is donating $ 180m to WFP to increase food security and health services and $ 100m to UNICEF to provide essential health care, the bank said on Friday.
The fund seeks to support food security and health programs in Afghanistan as it embarks on a major economic and humanitarian crisis that escalated in August, where The Taliban took over the country when the white-backed government collapsed and lasted The U.S. military withdrew.
The United States and other allies cut off economic aid that Afghanistan relied on for 20 years of war, and more than $ 9bn the country’s financial resources were shut down.
The United Nations warns that approximately 23 million people – about 55 percent of the population – are facing severe hunger, while about nine million are at risk of winter starvation in a poor and landless country.
Utilizing the reconstruction trust fund and directing through WFP and UNICEF, both members of the UN family, is seen as a way to raise funds for the country on basic needs in ways that do not affect US sanctions against the Taliban.
“The idea is to take the first step in repaying ARTF to provide assistance to the Afghan people in this difficult time,” the bank said, “and the agencies were there to provide assistance to the Afghan people” with their policies and procedures. “
“These ARTF funds will enable UNICEF to provide basic and basic services to 12.5 million people and vaccinate 1 million people, while WFP will provide food assistance to 2.7 million people and about 840,000 women and children,” it added. .
‘They want more than food aid’
Earlier Friday, the Reuters news agency reported that donors were expected to approve the $ 280m transfer.
On December 1, Reuters reported that the World Bank had assisted in transferring ARTF funds to the two institutions.
In a statement, the bank said it would “continue to work with ARTF providers to unlock additional ARTF funding for Afghanistan”.
Laurel Miller, a former US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, criticized the decision to use the ARTF for extra funding, saying the money should come from other sources and a $ 1.5bn fund should be used to end the collapse. about government agencies whose employees have not been paid for several months.
“We’re talking about the collapse of the civilian operations that serve the people of Afghanistan,” said Miller, who oversees the International program for the International Crisis Group, a tank-tank.
“This is not about helping the Taliban. This is about helping Afghan people who need a working country. They need more than just food.”
Many people in the Kabul capital have started selling household goods to feed themselves and buy coal to heat their homes during the winter.
