Billions in Afghan aid still too little
International donors have pledged $2.44bn in humanitarian aid for Afghanistan, the United Nations said on Thursday, falling short of its target for emergency relief.
The world body had been seeking a record $4.4bn in funding this year, with millions threatened with starvation and the economy in freefall.
UN Secretary-general Antonio Guterres said Afghanistan’s economy risked falling into a “death spiral” without urgent aid, with some Afghans already forced to sell their kids and body parts to survive.
But at a virtual conference of donors co-hosted with Britain, Germany and Qatar, just over half of the ambitious target was reached, it announced.
Forty-one nations contributed after Western nations in particular were urged not to abandon the Afghan people, even with attention turned to the war in Ukraine and crises elsewhere.
“Wealthy powerful countries cannot ignore the consequences of their decisions on the most vulnerable,” Mr Guterres said, referring to the withdrawal of Us-led forces from Afghanistan last year.
He and others painted a desperate picture of starvation, penury and oppression under the Taliban, who seized power in August last year in the wake of the Western pull-out.
Some 95 per cent of Afghans do not have enough to eat and 9 million are at risk from famine, Mr Guterres said.
“Without immediate action, we face a starvation and malnutrition crisis in Afghanistan. People are already selling their children and their body parts, in order to feed their families,” he added.
“The first step in any meaningful humanitarian response must be to halt the death spiral of the Afghan economy.”
The conference came a week after the Taliban provoked international outrage by closing down girls’ secondary schools, despite promising a softer version of their harsh 1996-2001 regime.
UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and her German counterpart Annalena Baerbock both spoke at the event, after co-signing a letter last week denouncing the Taliban move. “No nation can succeed if half of its population is held back,” said Ms Truss.