Seeking IDR 62 Trillion Aid To Save Afghanistan, The UN: This Is A Very Important Step

Illustration of services in an Afghan health facility. (Wikimedia Commons/Sgt. Ashley Curtis)

JAKARTA - United Nations (UN) agencies on Tuesday asked donors for USD 4.4 billion or approximately IDR 62.910.540 million for humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan by 2022.

In what would be a record aid fund, the United Nations called it a "critical gap-stopping" to ensure Afghanistan's future, after a period of turmoil marked by the Taliban's seizure of power and a hasty US exit.

The United Nations says the call, which amounts to nearly a quarter of Afghanistan's GDP, is the largest it has ever sought for a single country and triple the figure it received in 2021 when the US-backed government collapsed.

"This is a gap-stopping, very important gap-stopping step that we are presenting in front of the international community today," UN aid chief Martin Griffiths told reporters in Geneva, Switzerland.

"Without this being funded, there will be no future. We need this done, otherwise, there will be outflows, there will be suffering."

The sudden withdrawal of foreign aid last year after the Taliban victory in August left Afghanistan's fragile economy on the verge of collapse, with food prices rising rapidly and causing widespread famine.

Western sanctions aimed at the Taliban have also prevented the entry of basic supplies of food and medicine, although these have eased after exemptions were passed by the UN Security Council and Washington in December.

Griffiths, who has met with Taliban officials, said the humanitarian plan had been "carefully calibrated", so aid would go directly to people in need and not to the authorities.

Meanwhile, Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees said the increased security provided an opportunity to attract millions of people displaced by the long conflict in the country, adding that since the Taliban seized power, 170.000 people have returned.

"The conflict between the Taliban and the previous government has ended and it has opened up a security space that I think we need to take advantage of," Grandi explained.

"But to do that, we need the resources that are part of this call."