Frustration for basic necessities has been compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as lack of health care, drought and malnutrition.
The White House has announced $308 million in additional humanitarian aid for Afghanistan, offering new aid to the country as it approaches a humanitarian crisis since its takeover by the Taliban nearly five months ago.
White House spokeswoman Emily Horn said in a statement Tuesday that the new aid from the US Agency for International Development will flow through independent humanitarian organizations and will be used for shelter, health care, winter aid, emergency food aid, water, sanitation and will be provided. Sanitation Services.
The country’s long troubled economy has been in a tailspin since the takeover of the Taliban. About 80% of the budget of the previous government of Afghanistan came from the international community. That money, now cut, financed hospitals, schools, factories and government ministries.
The lack of health care, drought and malnutrition, coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic, has added to the desperation for such basic necessities.
USAID called on the Taliban to allow “all aid workers, especially women … to work freely and safely” as humanitarian groups seek to help those who are suffering. “The United States urges the Taliban to allow continued humanitarian access, safe conditions. For humanitarian assistance, free provision of aid to all vulnerable, and freedom of movement for aid workers of all genders,” the agency said in a statement. said in.
The new aid brings US humanitarian aid for Afghanistan to more than $780 million since the chaotic end of the 20-year-old war in August. The United Nations says that 22% of Afghanistan’s 38 million people live near famine and another 36% face acute food insecurity.
In addition, the White House pledged that it would send 1 million additional COVID-19 vaccine doses to Afghanistan through COVAX, an initiative by the World Health Organization to improve access to vaccines. With the new influx of doses, the US would have sent 4.3 million doses to Afghanistan, which has struggled to cope with the unrelenting pandemic.
International funding to Afghanistan was suspended after the Taliban took control of the country in mid-August and the country’s billions of dollars of assets abroad, mostly in the United States, were frozen.
The decision by the US and the international community not to recognize the Taliban government, which governed from 1996 to 2001 with a strict interpretation of Islamic law, has raised a question for Western powers as to how to provide adequate aid without being given. The legitimacy of the Taliban or putting money directly into their hands.
The lack of funds has exacerbated poverty, and aid groups have warned of an imminent humanitarian catastrophe. State employees, from doctors to teachers and administrative civil servants, have not been paid for months. Meanwhile, banks have restricted how much money account holders can withdraw.
The Taliban have called on the international community to release funds and help avert a humanitarian disaster.
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