The United Nations is calling on governments around the world to donate money totalling 4.4 billion U.S. dollars to fund life-saving aid deliveries for Afghanistan.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said she would be taking part in the online donor conference, which is being co-hosted by Qatar, Britain and Germany on Thursday.
Representatives of Afghan civil society will also be present, though the conference has been overshadowed by recently announced restrictions being placed on women and girls by the ruling Taliban.
According to the UN, 24.4 million people in Afghanistan currently depend on humanitarian aid to survive, almost 60 percent of the population.
The Afghan population as a whole currently requires three times as much humanitarian aid as it did in 2021.
Half the country’s population faces hunger.
Read also: China committed to Afghanistan’s pursuit of peace, stability says President Xi
The aid money is intended to finance food, health care, education and shelter as well as protective measures for vulnerable people.
In the wake of the international troop withdrawal, the collapse of the U.S.-backed government in Kabul and the Taliban returning to power in August 2021, the Afghan economy has shrunk by almost a third.
Development aid for the country had also been cut.
The reserves of the Afghan central bank were frozen and not a single country had yet recognised the Taliban Government.
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