UN launches $5 billion financial appeal to prevent humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan

On Tuesday, the United Nations and its partners launched a $5 billion financial appeal for Afghanistan in an attempt to restore the war-torn country's crumbling basic services. As per a report by the UN News, this is the largest single country aid appeal ever launched by the organisation and its partners.

Martin Griffiths, the UN Under-Secretary-General for humanitarian affairs, claimed that the Afghanistan Humanitarian Response Plan alone will require $4.4 billion to pay direct to health workers and others. 

Meanwhile, Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, has also called for $623 million for the Afghanistan Situation Regional Refugee Response Plan, which will help refugees and host communities in five neighbouring countries.

"We are launching this appeal to aid Afghanistan in 2022. This is the largest ever humanitarian aid request for a single country. It is three times the amount required, and actually fundraised last year," Griffiths stated in Geneva as per the UN News.

He outlined that the scale of need is already immense and if significant action is not taken now to support Afghanistan, there will be a need of $10 billion next year. 

Afghanistan's plight is one of the world's fastest-growing humanitarian crises: UN

According to UN aid agencies, Afghanistan's plight is one of the world's fastest-growing humanitarian catastrophes. Half of the population is now suffering from acute famine, over nine million people have been displaced, and millions of children have been forced to drop out of school, claimed the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

In response to concerns about whether the money would go to help the Taliban's interim government, Griffiths stressed that it would go directly into the pockets of nurses and health professionals on the ground so that these services do not get hit.

OCHA provided humanitarian assistance to nearly 3 million Afghans 

"This is a stop-gap measure that we are placing in front of the international community and it is extremely necessary. There will be no future unless this is funded. We must complete this or else there will be outflow and suffering," the UN humanitarian chief remarked.

In November, the OCHA stated that it provided humanitarian assistance to nearly 3 million Afghans since the Taliban's takeover in August. It further stated that the bulk of the aid was food distributed to needy and poor families, Khaama Press reported. It should be mentioned here that many countries and organisations have stopped sending aid to the government in Afghanistan since the Taliban took over and are instead considering delivering aid directly to needy people.

Image: Twitter/@UNReliefChief/AP