The United Nations is urging countries to ramp up donations to Afghanistan to stave off a humanitarian crisis, renewing calls for its $4.4 billion aid request during an international virtual event Thursday.
So far, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has secured about 13% of this funding request for 2022, which is triple last year’s request and its largest funding appeal ever. The aid will go toward providing Afghans with healthcare, food, water, education, and other critical supplies.
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“We have the power to stop the downward humanitarian spiral in Afghanistan and it is our moral duty to use this power by pledging generous, flexible, and unconditional funding today. That is how humanitarians can scale up operations now and save lives,” said U.N. Humanitarian Chief Martin Griffiths.
OCHA first appealed for the $4.4 billion in aid in January. On Thursday, the group commenced its Supporting the Humanitarian Response in Afghanistan 2022 event — hosted by representatives from Qatar, the United Kingdom, and Germany — to give an update on its progress and spur more donations.
During the first two months of 2022, partner groups reached 12.7 million people with life-saving assistance, according to the event’s organizers. But the situation remains grim. Over 60% of Afghanistan’s population, 24 million people, are in need of humanitarian assistance to survive, OCHA said. That is a 30% increase from last year following the United States’s withdrawal from the war-torn nation.
OCHA will distribute humanitarian aid through partnerships with different aid agencies and emphasized it would not distribute aid through the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan. Last year, the group distributed $1.8 billion in aid to the impoverished nation and claimed to reach 20 million people with critical supplies.
Last summer, as the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan loomed, Taliban forces toppled the U.S.-backed government and reestablished rule. In response, Afghanistan became increasingly isolated from the rest of the world and its humanitarian situation rapidly deteriorated.
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After taking over, the Taliban began enacting policies the U.S. and other nations condemned for violating human rights. For example, on March 23, the Taliban closed girls’ classrooms just hours after they had reopened. As the country became increasingly isolated, it also faced one of its worst droughts in decades last year. The humanitarian situation has only deteriorated in the time since, according to OCHA.
“By pledging generously, the world can send a strong signal of solidarity to the people of Afghanistan, who have already been through far too much,” OCHA said.
