Afghanistan to receive €1 billion humanitarian aid from EU leaders ahead of G20 Summit

Leaders of the Group of 20 (G20) nations and Brussels who met in Rome, Italy on Saturday at the 16th gathering at the level of Heads of State and Government reaffirmed their pledge of sending a humanitarian aid package worth €1 billion ($1.15 billion) to deal with the socio-economic collapse in Afghanistan. This amount, as they had said earlier, will be provided via the international organizations operating inside Afghanistan. Under Italy’s Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Mario Draghi had earlier agreed to hold a press conference in the ‘Sala Polifunzionale’ at the President of the Council in Rome during an extraordinary meeting of G20 leaders on Afghanistan. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had stated that the Afghan people "should not pay the price of the Taliban’s actions”. 

Leaders and representatives from G20 nations have expressed the urgent need of sending financial support to Afghanistan, although they had clarified that this would not mean the recognition of the Taliban regime. Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi holding the rotating presidency of the G20 had clarified ahead of the meeting: "All G20 leaders should have contact with the Taliban, but that does not mean recognizing them as the government of Afghanistan.” 

Meanwhile, Germany’s outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel had also agreed that Afghanistan was in dire need of the necessary resources, adding that her country would pledge €600 million ($690 million) at the summit in Rome. She had further appealed to the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in reviving the war torn nation's economy. "We have nothing to gain if the entire monetary or financial system collapses in Afghanistan," the EU nation’s outgoing leader had stressed.

European Union had announced a support package of €1 billion for Afghanistan well ahead of the summit to curb the risks of widespread famine within Afghanistan. G20 leaders have mutually agreed that the funding must focus on uplifting the women and girl children in Afghanistan. Even before the Taliban takeover, the central Asian country had been struggling with severe drought and food crisis which has now worsened after the exit of the US and allied forces. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, meanwhile, had expressed the urgency of injecting cash into Afghanistan’s collapsing economy via UN trust funds. "We need to find ways to make the economy breathe again," Guterres said to the reporters at UN headquarters in New York.

UN aid chief warns about mass starvation in Afghanistan 

In a dire message to the leaders of the world gathered at the COP26 meeting in Glasgow, United Nations’ humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths on October 29 warned that the Afghanistan humanitarian crisis has been deepening and that the conflict-ravaged central Asian nation’s needs are “skyrocketing.” Kids as young as under the age of 5 are on the verge of malnutrition, Griffiths cautioned, adding that recently there has been a measles disease outbreak in every single province which, according to him, is “a red light” and “the canary in the mine”.

In an interview, Friday with The Associated Press, UN’s humanitarian chief warned about the growing food insecurity across Afghanistan, and the looming famine-like situation worsened by the diseases, pandemic, battered economy, and deaths. He said, that despite that the UN’s World Food Program ensuring the adequate supply for over 4 million population, Afghanistan’s civilians are on the verge of malnutrition. Citing the horrible economic conditions and tough winters ahead, the UN’s humanitarian chief warned that the demand for food might triple those figures to about 12 million if the humanitarian needs in the territory were ignored.

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