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International aid agencies warned of the “imminent humanitarian crisis” in Afghanistan, and the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (Médecins Sans Frontières, or MSF) stated that the country’s fragile healthcare system is facing a “potential collapse.”
On Monday, after the Taliban’s takeover last month led to the flight of aid workers and subsequent funding cuts, the United Nations called for nearly $200 million in additional funding for life-saving aid in Afghanistan.
“Basic services in Afghanistan are collapsing, and food and other life-saving aid are about to run out,” OCHA spokesperson Jenslark said on Monday.
Martine Flokstra of Médecins Sans Frontières stated that since the Taliban’s invasion of Kabul on August 15 triggered the collapse of the Western-backed government, the already dire situation in Afghan hospitals has gotten worse.
She said that the medical staff had not been paid for several months, and as the number of patients coming to the medical institution increased, the medical center had run out of medicines. “Therefore, the potential collapse of the healthcare system is one of our main concerns,” she told Al Jazeera.
“The sirens are sounding,” Al Jazeera reporter Charlotte Bellis said when reporting in Kabul. Aid agencies such as the World Health Organization (WHO), Doctors Without Borders, the Afghan Red Crescent Society, and the Red Cross are working Send out a distress signal.
The WHO warned that Afghanistan is becoming increasingly desperate, and the suspension of the country’s health programs puts millions of Afghans at risk of losing basic medical care.
“WHO stated that 90% of their clinics will be closed soon,” Bellis said, adding that last year they treated millions of people through 2,300 clinics across the country.
Continue to help
The United Nations humanitarian agency OCHA said that because the country has been cut off from international financial institutions and its foreign exchange reserves have been frozen by the United States, this additional payment means that by the end of this year, Afghanistan will need a total of US$606 million in aid.
At the same time, US Secretary of State Anthony Brinken said on Monday that despite the sanctions imposed on the Taliban, they will continue to provide assistance.
“We are determined to work with the international community to continue to provide humanitarian assistance to Afghans. In the case of sanctions imposed on Afghanistan, we can and will do this through our partners and non-governmental organizations such as the United Nations,” he was in the capital of Qatar Said at a press conference in Doha.
Al Jazeera’s Bayliss said that donor countries are trying to find ways to provide aid through different aid agencies.
“The situation in Afghanistan is complicated. It is a fragile country, but it has always relied on international aid and donors, and due to the sanctions on the Taliban, a lot of money has not come,” she said.
The United Nations holds a meeting on Afghanistan
The situation in Afghanistan will be discussed at the Geneva ministerial meeting chaired by UN Secretary-General António Guterres next Monday.
In announcing the meeting last week, Guterres spokesman Stephane Dujarric warned that after 20 years of war, the country now under Taliban control is facing an “imminent humanitarian disaster”.
OCHA expressed the hope that countries would make generous commitments at the meeting, stating that US$606 million would be needed to provide important food and livelihood assistance to nearly 11 million people and provide basic health services to 3.4 million people.
The funds will also be used to treat more than 1 million children and women with acute malnutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene interventions, and to protect children and survivors of gender-based violence.
Most of the funding requested was applied for at the end of last year. As part of the US$1.3 billion humanitarian appeal for Afghanistan, the program is still seriously underfunded.
Even before the Taliban’s victory, Afghanistan relied heavily on aid—more than a third of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) came from foreign funds.
The United Nations warned that 18 million people are facing a humanitarian disaster and another 18 million people may soon join them.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that US$413 million of Tuesday’s appeal was used for unmet needs in the previous appeal, while US$193 million would be used for emerging needs and changes in operating costs.
Call for urgent action
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) expressed similar concerns and called for urgent action.
It warned that millions of Afghans are facing huge humanitarian needs due to one of the worst droughts in the country’s history, severe food shortages, a breakdown in the health system and the spread of COVID-19.
Mohamed Nabi Burhan, Acting Secretary-General of the Afghan Red Crescent Society, said: “After decades of hardship, Afghans are now facing the ravages of climate crisis, global pandemics and internal displacement.”
He added: “Urgent international action is needed to provide millions of people with the necessities of life in the coming months and the severe winter in Afghanistan.”
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