On Tuesday, the United States announced $308 million additional support for Afghans to combat the humanitarian crisis in the country as the Taliban seizure Afghanistan almost five months ago. Emily Horne, the national security council spokesman of the White House, stated that the recent aid announcement from the American Agency for International Development would flow through autonomous humanitarian organizations.

The aid amount will provide health care, emergency food aid, winterization assistance, hygiene services, sanitation, water services, and shelter to the homeless Afghans. Furthermore, the long-troubled economy of the country has been a tailspin since the Taliban coup. Approximately eighty percent of the previous Afghan government’s budget came from the international community.

The United States government announced $308 million in aid for the people of Afghanistan, who are at the edges of a severe humanitarian crisis since the Taliban took control of the country almost five months ago.https://t.co/jl8jSQlLdQ pic.twitter.com/cEEV8ipw7l

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That money, now cut off, financed hospitals, government ministries, factories, and schools. The Coronavirus pandemic further worsened the desperation for such basic necessities as well as health care shortages, starvation, and drought. A global humanitarian organization, the International Rescue Committee, said community health workers reported seeing a sharp surge in the number of kids with severe critical starvation in Herat and Khost provinces.

Furthermore, the group reported that food prices in the country rose by around ten percent to twenty percent compared with the last five years. David Milliband, the CEO, and president of IRC, said the cause of the present humanitarian disaster is clear: the economic tourniquet applied to the country.

Will the Taliban allow all aid workers, including women?

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) asked the Taliban government to allow all aid workers, especially women, in the country, to operate securely and independently as humanitarian groups look to help and aid those suffering. Moreover, USAID stated that the U.S. continues to urge the Taliban leaders to allow unhindered humanitarian access, independent provision of assistance to all vulnerable individuals, safe conditions for humanitarians, and independence of movement for aid workers of all genders.

On the other hand, unveiled Tuesday, the 2022 U.N. Humanitarian Response Plan for Afghanistan found Afghanistan requires $4.4 billion in funding, the historic largest humanitarian appeal launched for a nation. The United Nations (U.N.) under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, Martin Griffiths, said that events in the country over the last year unfolded with exceptional speed and with severe consequences for Afghans. Worldwide economies are confused and looking for the right way to react to the whole scenario in Afghanistan.

The latest commitment of the Biden government brings United States humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan to over $780 million since the chaotic war ending of the twenty-year-old war in August. In addition, the U.N. says twenty-two percent of the thirty-eight million people of Afghanistan are living near food crisis, and the other thirty-six percent are facing acute food insecurity.

Additional COVID-19 Vaccine Shots for Afghanistan

The White House vowed to send Afghanistan one million extra Coronavirus vaccines shots through COVAX, an initiative by the WHO to improve access to vaccines. The United States sent around 4.3 million doses to Afghanistan with the latest vaccine shots, which struggled to combat the ongoing pandemic. However, after the Taliban seizure of the country, international agencies and countries suspended Afghanistan funding. Additionally, the United States froze billions of dollars of the country’s assets.

The lack of funding led to intensified poverty, so aid groups warned of a looming humanitarian disaster in the country. In addition, state employees such as administrative, civil servants, doctors, and teachers, have not been paid. On the other hand, the Taliban called on the international community to release funds and help stave off a humanitarian crisis. Murphy said that the US has a moral responsibility to stem avoidable suffering and a federal security imperative to do what it can to avoid a humanitarian crisis

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