Key UN agency gets only ‘small budget’ for Afghanistan this year

KABUL (Ariana News): The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) expresses concern that the international community has provided only a small budget for the continuation of aid programs in Afghanistan for the current year, and the lack of funds has threatened to suspend the continuation of most programs.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) published a report on Sunday and said that more than $3 billion was requested for the continuation of humanitarian programs in Afghanistan in 2024, but only a small part of it has been provided so far.

This United Nations agency said: “In 2023, humanitarian partners in Afghanistan provided assistance in some way to at least 32.1 million people. But in 2024, only $87 million of the $3.06 billion budget was received for the plan to meet humanitarian needs, which has put the continuation of many programs at risk.” The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that last year due to budget cuts, the organization was forced to stop providing food aid to 18 million Afghans. OCHA said in the report that from January to December 2023, humanitarian aid donors provided food and alternative livelihoods to 26.3 million Afghans and health services to 16.5 million people.

The United Nations has announced that a total of 32.1 million people received aid in 2023, with 27.6 million directly benefiting. The organization has spent $1.47 billion in 2023 for its programs, including $850 million from the 2022 budget. Prolonged settlement, widespread presence of explosives, continued restrictions on women’s rights and freedoms, increased gender-based violence, child labor, early marriages, climate change, especially earthquakes and droughts, the return of millions of migrants from Pakistan and internally displaced persons, OCHA said. Afghanistan remains primarily a security crisis, the agency said.

According to the United Nations humanitarian aid plan in 2024, more than half of Afghanistan’s population will need humanitarian aid in some way. The United Nations has emphasized that among all the needy, 17.3 million of the most vulnerable people, including those with disabilities, are covered by the aid mission.