Taliban want greater role in distributing foreign aid in Afghanistan

On Tuesday, the United Nations asked donors for $4.4 billion in humanitarian aid for Afghanistan in 2022 and the White House announced it would donate an extra $308 million.

The Taliban administration that seized control of Afghanistan proposed a joint body on Wednesday of its officials and international representatives to coordinate billions of dollars in planned aid.

It was not clear whether the United Nations and foreign governments would back any such agreement as it would constitute a stark increase in access to international funding by the Taliban, whose officials have been sidelined due to sanctions.

An abrupt withdrawal of foreign aid last year following the hasty U.S. exit and Taliban victory in August left Afghanistan’s fragile economy on the brink of collapse, with food prices rising rapidly and causing widespread hunger.

Western sanctions aimed at the Taliban also prevented the passage of basic supplies of food and medicine, although this has since eased after exemptions were passed by the U.N. Security Council and Washington in December.

On Tuesday, the United Nations asked donors for US$4.4 billion in humanitarian aid for Afghanistan in 2022 and the White House announced it would donate an extra US$308 million.

Meanwhile, Canada announced last month it would donate C$56 million this year to its humanitarian partners in Afghanistan. The government said the funding will help provide emergency food and nutrition services, protection and logistics services.

“The goal of this committee is coordination on a higher level for facilitating humanitarian aids of the international community and to distribute aid for needy people,” Afghanistan’s acting Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi told a news conference in Kabul also attended by U.N. envoy Ramiz Alakbarov.

“We ask the international communities that they should use the government capacities for their aid goals.”