The organization suspended its aid to Kabul at the end of August after the Taliban returned to power.
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The World Bank announced Friday, December 10 humanitarian aid of 280 million dollars (nearly 250 million euros) to Afghanistan via the reallocation of funding from the special fund for the reconstruction of the country (ARTF). The organization suspended its aid to Kabul at the end of August after the Taliban returned to power.
Until this event, the ARTF, a multi-donor trust fund, was “Afghanistan’s largest source of development finance, funding up to 30% of Afghanistan’s budget and supporting core government functions”, is it specified in the press release of the World Bank.
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.
These ARTF funds will allow Unicef “to provide 12.5 million people with basic and essential health services as well as to immunize one million people, while the World Food Program will be able to provide food assistance to 2.7 million people and nutritional assistance to nearly 840,000 mothers and children “, details the World Bank.
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.