The UN’s humanitarian appeal, the largest ever for a single country, is only 13% funded, UN spokesman Jens Laerke said ahead of the United Nations donors conference. Thursday.
Funds go directly to aid agencies implementing projects on the ground and none are channeled through the de facto authorities, which took power in August, he said.
The virtual conference from Geneva coincides with concerns that Islamist leaders backtracked last week on their announcement to open secondary schools to girls.
Around 23 million people are acutely hungry and 95% of Afghans go hungry, while 10 million children urgently need help to survive, according to the UN, which will co-host the talks with the Britain.
“The UK is bringing countries together to support the people of Afghanistan and helping to lead the way in providing life-saving food, shelter and medical supplies. Together with our allies and partners, we can and will do more to help Afghanistan,” British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in announcing the pledge, which is her last annual pledge.
The United States abruptly canceled meetings with the Taliban in Doha to discuss key economic issues, officials said last Friday, after the Taliban reversed its decision to return girls to high school classrooms.
The cancellation was the first concrete sign that the Taliban’s recent moves on human rights and inclusion could have a direct impact on the willingness of the international community to help the group, some of whose leaders are under US sanctions.
Earlier this month, the United Nations received just $1.3 billion in pledges of a $4.27 billion aid package for war-torn Yemen, where the humanitarian surge had saw funding dry up even before global attention turned to the conflict in Ukraine.
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