Kabul: Amid a dire humanitarian crisis, the United Nations humanitarians on Friday warned of a severe aid funding gap for aid to more than 21 million people in Afghanistan even though some relief has already been reduced, Khaama Press reported. Secretary-General’s Special Adviser for the Transforming Education Summit, Leonardo Garnier, also criticized the ban on women’s education in Afghanistan.
The 3.2 billion US dollar plea to aid almost half of the Afghan population has received less than 25 per cent of its funding more than halfway through the year, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). ‘We face critical funding gaps amounting to 1.3 billion US dollars, with many programs already ended or considerably scaled back due to insufficient resources and aid pipelines at risk of imminent rupture, including for food assistance’, Khaama Press quoted the OCHA as stating.
On July 31, the organisation said in a statement that more than halfway through the year, the 2023 Afghanistan Humanitarian response plan (HRP) remains severely underfunded, with only 744 million USD received as of July 31, which is less than half the amount (1.49 billion USD) at the same time in 2022. ‘With humanitarian needs at an all-time high due to the third consecutive year of drought-like conditions, worsening poverty and heightened vulnerabilities following forty years of conflict, only a short window of opportunity exists to bring in vital assistance and supplies before the lean season and winter starts, and lives are potentially lost’, the statement added.
Earlier, the UK Parliament had informed that the humanitarian aid given to Afghanistan by the Official Development Assistance (ODA) has been reduced by 59 per cent, as per Tolo News. The issue of the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan was also raised in the United Nations Security Council High-level open debate where representatives from various countries urged for the providing aid in Afghanistan, reported Khaama Press. Notably, Afghanistan, under the Taliban, is facing its worst humanitarian crisis and the women of the country are denied fundamental rights. According to a World Food Programme assessment, Afghanistan is one of the nations with extreme food insecurity, with nine million people affected by severe economic difficulties and hunger.
Meanwhile, assistant director general for education at UNESCO, Stefania Giannini, said that the UN is pursuing the issue of women’s education in Afghanistan and will not stop its efforts in this regard. Giannini noted: ‘The system officially doesn’t allow them to go to school … UNESCO and the UN assistance UNICEF were in the class working in some 20 provinces this year and reaching out to some 40 thousand learners, 60 percent of them are girls’. Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid in reaction to the UN official’s remarks, said the pressure strategy was not the solution to the nation’s current challenges. ‘Those issues that are permitted by Sharia, we want to have a good interaction in that regard, we want to have an answer for the issues they criticize, and that the policy of pressure and coercion do not lead to results’, Mujahid said.
This comes as more than 680 days have passed since the closure of schools for girls above the sixth grade in the country, which sparked both national and foreign reactions. Since the Taliban seized power in August 2021, the law and order situation in the country has only deteriorated, with the rise in cases of terrorism and blasts. The group banned women from going to schools. Later in December last year, they banned women from going to universities and working with aid agencies. Earlier this year, the Taliban also imposed a ban on salons, which were a major employment source for women.
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