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Australia doubles aid to Afghanistan to $100m

Australia has pledged $100m in humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan amid warnings of a looming economic catastrophe.

Volunteers sort collected items for Afghan refugees in an emergency reception camp in The Netherlands. Picture: AFP
Volunteers sort collected items for Afghan refugees in an emergency reception camp in The Netherlands. Picture: AFP

Australia has pledged $100 million in humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, almost doubling its budgeted aid commitment to the country amid warnings of a looming economic catastrophe and mass starvation under the new Taliban regime.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne announced Australia’s contribution to a UN emergency appeal in Geneva late on Monday that ultimately raised $US1.2 billion, highlighting the importance of helping women and children left vulnerable by ongoing drought, conflict and social exclusion.

“We know that the need, which was already acute before recent events, is now severe,” Senator Payne said in a transcript obtained by The Australian of her online link-up with the appeal.

“Australia stands in solidarity with the Afghan people. We will play our part, and respond to those most in need.”

A United Nations Development Program report last week warned Afghanistan was teetering “on the brink of universal poverty”, with 97 per cent of the population at risk of falling below the poverty line without an urgent international response.

Afghanistan was already suffering from prolonged drought and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic before the Taliban takeover last month.

But the upheaval caused by the Islamists’ power seizure — including mass job losses, the suspension of international development aid and freezing of Afghanistan’s overseas-held cash reserves — has brought the economy to the brink of collapse.

The federal government had already allocated $53million in its 2021/22 budget for humanitarian and development assistance for Afghanistan.

Its pledge to the UN appeal lifts that contribution to $65 million in “immediate life-saving assistance and support” to displaced people and Afghan refugees, and a further $35 million in ongoing humanitarian assistance to 2024.

Australia was ready “to provide further support to Afghanistan people as the crisis evolves”, and had appointed a Special Representative on Afghanistan to lead its diplomatic and humanitarian response, Senator Payne added.

Up to a third of the UN-raised funds will go towards addressing the growing hunger crisis in Afghanistan — with predictions many could run out of food by the end of this month.

None of the money will go through the Taliban regime, and will instead be funnelled through the UN and NGOs still operating inside the country.

However, UN secretary general Antonio Guterres warned it was “impossible to provide humanitarian assistance inside Afghanistan without engaging with the de facto authorities”.

Mr Guterres said he believed the aid could help leverage an improvement in human rights from the Taliban, which has staged brutal reprisals against former foes, women and journalists in the last month despite promising a more moderate regime than its barbarous theocracy of 1996 to 2001.

Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) chief executive Marc Purcell welcomed Canberra’s funding pledge and called on the government to work with Australian charities with “decades of experience” in delivering support on the ground in Afghanistan.

“We urge the government to continue its support over the long term as we expect the scale of humanitarian disaster unfolding in Afghanistan to get worse,” Mr Purcell said.

“We must play an active role in helping to overcome challenges to humanitarian access such as international funding freezes and UN Security Council sanctions. Unless we do this, the risk of state collapse is real.”

Australia was the first western nation to close its Kabul embassy in May as the Taliban began seizing major Afghan cities and towns in the wake of President Biden announcing all US troops would be withdrawn before September 11.

The decision honoured the Trump administration’s lop-sided deal with the Taliban for withdrawal in exchange for no further attacks on US military and a severing of ties with al-Qa’ida, but also triggered the chaotic evacuation of 123,000 foreign nationals and at-risk Afghans from Kabul last month.

Read related topics:Afghanistan

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/australia-told-lift-funding-to-afghanistan/news-story/f6d7242bbd88c0c4efb79c6ef8add153