Kabul: The World Bank has announced a humanitarian aid of one billion US dollars for Afghanistan, which is facing a severe economic crisis. With this announcement, the World Bank said that this fund will remain out of the control of the Taliban rulers in Afghanistan and will be used through UN agencies and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
The fund’s spending is primarily aimed at protecting vulnerable people in Afghanistan, helping to preserve human capital and key economic and social services. Also, with this help from the World Bank, there will be an attempt to reduce the need for humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan in the future.
The aid follows the $280 million that Afghanistan received from the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF) last December. Its purpose is to provide humanitarian aid. Funding is intended to support the delivery of essential basic services, protect vulnerable Afghans, help preserve human capital and key economic and social services, and reduce the need for future humanitarian assistance.
At the end of August last, the bank suspended aid to Kabul after the radical Islamist Taliban returned to power. ARTF is a multi-donor fund that coordinates international aid to improve the lives of millions of Afghans. It is administered by the World Bank on behalf of Donors Partners.
Until the Taliban came to power, the ARTF was Afghanistan’s largest source of development funding, funding up to 30 percent of the government’s budget. The World Bank is unable to provide funds directly to the Taliban regime as it is not recognized by the international community. Therefore the World Bank is not able to provide funds directly to him.
Afghanistan’s population has faced food shortages and growing poverty since the Taliban came to power. The World Bank said the new aid is aimed at “protecting vulnerable Afghans (and) helping to preserve human capital and key economic and social services.”
