Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

UN Food Agency: $800 Mln Urgently Needed for Afghanistan


Mon 10 Apr 2023 | 10:41 PM
Israa Farhan

On Monday, the UN food agency said it urgently needs $800 million for the next six months to help Afghanistan, which is at the highest risk of famine in a quarter of a century.

Aid agencies are providing food, education and health care to Afghans in the aftermath of the Taliban takeover in August 2021 and the ensuing economic collapse. 

However, distribution was severely affected by a Taliban decree last December that banned women from working for national and international NGOs. 

The UN was not involved in the ban but mentioned that last week that the Taliban-led government had banned Afghan women from working in its agencies in the country. Authorities have not yet commented on the restriction. 

The WFP explained that female aid workers play a vital role in providing food and nutrition assistance to the agency, and that it will make "every possible effort" to continue this, while trying to ensure the active participation of female staff.

The UN pointed out on Monday that its operations in Afghanistan remain severely short of funding, with $249 million reportedly confirmed for 2023, nearly a third of the amount received for the same period in 2022. 

It said Afghanistan was dealing with its third consecutive year of drought-like conditions, a second year of crippling economic decline, and was still reeling from decades of conflict and natural disasters. 

It  previously said  Afghanistan is its lowest-funded operation globally, despite it being the world's largest humanitarian crisis.

the Taliban takeover has pushed millions of Afghans into poverty and starvation after foreign aid stopped overnight. 

Sanctions against the Taliban rulers, halting bank transfers and freezing billions in Afghanistan's currency reserves, restricted access to the global institutions and outside funds that underpinned the country's aid-dependent economy before the withdrawal of US and NATO forces. 

Acting Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said the Afghan assets were frozen illegally and unfairly. 

He called for the country's seat at the UN to be handed over to the Taliban-led government. It is still under the control of the government of former President Ashraf Ghani.