US pledges $308m more in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan

KABUL (Pajhwok): The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced America’s initial 2022 contribution of more than $308 million in humanitarian assistance for the people of Afghanistan.

President Joe Biden had been clear that humanitarian assistance would continue to flow directly to the Afghan people as the US remained the single largest provider of humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan, a USAID statement said on Wednesday.

This contribution reflects a continued scale-up of the US humanitarian aid in alignment with an unwavering commitment to vulnerable Afghans.

The new funding brings total US humanitarian aid to Afghanistan and to Afghan refugees in the region to nearly $782 million since October 2020.

“Today, the UN launched its Afghanistan humanitarian response plan with the world’s largest humanitarian funding appeal ever,” the statement said.

It added the new contribution from the US would provide life-saving aid for the most vulnerable, to include women, girls, minority populations and people with disabilities.

This assistance includes food and nutrition aid; support for health care facilities and mobile health teams; winterisation programmes, like the provision of emergency cash grants, shelter kits, heaters, blankets, warm clothing; logistics and transportation support to ensure that aid workers and critical relief supplies could make it to the hardest-to-reach areas.

For this assistance to be the most effective, the USAID said, all aid workers, especially women, must be permitted to operate independently and securely and be able to reach women and girls without impediments.

The US once again urged the Taliban to allow unhindered humanitarian access, safe conditions for humanitarians, independent provision of assistance to all vulnerable people and freedom of movement for aid workers of all genders.

“We will continue to work to alleviate the suffering of the Afghan people, and call on other donors to continue to contribute to this international response. Together, we can deliver critical assistance directly to the people of Afghanistan.”

nh/mud