UN, aid agencies revise down Afghanistan aid plan

KABUL (Khaama Press): The UN humanitarian office said that the United Nations and humanitarian agencies had revised the budget for Afghanistan’s aid plan for 2023 to $3.2 billion, down from $4.6 billion earlier in the year.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement that the revised plan resulted from a “changing operating context” brought on by the Taliban administration’s restrictions on female humanitarian workers, Reuters reported.
Many Afghan women who work for NGOs and the UN were barred from working by multiple decrees issued by the Taliban, which aid organizations have warned will seriously hinder delivery in the conservative nation.
“The recent bans on Afghan women working for… NGOs and the UN have added yet another layer of complexity to what is already an incredibly challenging protection environment and further constrained the operational capacity of partners,” the UN statement said.
The restrictions on female workers working with UN and aid agencies have been the cause of the reduction of the aid budget in the country.
This comes amid a humanitarian crisis in the country, with more than two-thirds of the population needing urgent life-saving assistance.
Global humanitarian pleas frequently fall short of the total amount requested. The humanitarian response plan had a $4.4 billion budget and only collected about $3.2 billion in 2022.
According to the UN, more people are in need now than a year ago.
In April, the UN Agency for Development predicted that a 30% reduction in aid would cause Afghanistan’s economy to shrink and inflation to increase.