(Washington) The World Bank, which suspended aid to Kabul at the end of August following the return to power of the Taliban, on Friday announced humanitarian aid of $ 280 million to Afghanistan via the reallocation of funding from the special fund for the reconstruction of the country (ARTF).
“Donors […] of the ARTF have decided today to transfer 280 million dollars by the end of December 2021 to UNICEF and the World Food Program ”, indicates a statement from the World Bank.
“This decision is the first step towards reallocating funds from the ARTF portfolio in order to provide humanitarian aid to the Afghan people at this critical time,” adds the institution.
The ARTF is a multi-donor trust fund that coordinates international assistance to improve the lives of millions of Afghans.
The World Bank administers the ARTF on behalf of donor partners.
The World Bank argues that UNICEF and the World Food Program (WFP), two United Nations agencies, are well established in Afghanistan and have logistical capacity on the ground to put these funds to good use.
The money will help “close the funding gaps in their existing programs to deliver health and nutrition services directly to the Afghan people,” she argues.
The World Bank specifies that UNICEF will receive $ 100 million and WFP $ 180 million.
These ARTF funds will enable UNICEF “to provide 12.5 million people with basic and essential health services as well as to immunize one million people, while WFP will be able to provide food assistance to 2.7 million people. people and nearly 840,000 mothers and children with nutritional assistance, ”detailed the World Bank.
According to the ARTF website, 34 donors have contributed to the fund to date.
Until the Taliban took power, the ARTF was “the largest source of funding for the development of Afghanistan, funding up to 30% of Afghanistan’s budget and supporting core government functions”, is it indicated.
Since 2002, the ARTF has provided support through national programs, for example reducing infant mortality and improving children’s schooling.
The Afghan people have faced a severe economic crisis, food shortages and growing poverty since the Taliban took power in mid-August.
The country is also suffering from a serious liquidity crisis, with international donors having suspended massive aid which had held the government’s budget at arm’s length for twenty years.
One of the challenges is how to get funds to Afghanistan without exposing financial institutions to US sanctions.
The World Bank thus circumvents the difficulty by reallocating funds via United Nations organizations.