AFGHANISTAN HUMANITARIAN CRISIS-NOTES

Afghanistan was one of the world's largest and most complex humanitarian emergencies.

Donors can help in the following ways:

 Provide unrestricted core funding for vetted humanitarian NGO partners that support the 2022
Afghanistan Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP). This is an efficient way to ensure the best use of
resources in a coordinated manner.
 Support the refugee resettlement agencies in resettlement countries. A quick expansion of
capacity to do the work requires flexible and rapid funding.
 At a local domestic level, support housing, employment, medical assistance, assistance with
school enrollment and other programs. Again, flexible funding allows for directing funding
toward the most critical needs.
 The country’s 2022 HRP requested $4.4 billion to reach 22.1 million people in need “due to the
consequences of decades of conflict, recurrent natural disasters, lack of recovery from past
disasters and the added shock from the takeover of the government, subsequent sudden pause
in international assistance and resulting economic shocks.”
 On the day the appeal for $4.4 billion was announced, this is the largest ever appeal for a single
country for humanitarian assistance and it is three times the amount needed, and actually
fundraised in 2021. Only 45.6% of the $4.4 billion requested in the 2022 HRP is currently funded.
 This appeal is in addition to the $623 million requested by UNHCR to support refugees and host
communities in five neighboring countries for the 2022 Afghanistan Situation Regional Refugee
Response Plan.
 Security and protection of civilians remain the most critical problems confronting post-war
Afghanistan. No amount of food or supplies can substitute for addressing this basic need.
 To be sure, during the emergency, international agencies, non-governmental groups and local
staff displayed remarkable energy and courage in their efforts to ensure that starvation and
disease did not overcome large numbers of people inside the country.
 The future direction of Afghanistan will be determined largely by how the international
community deals with protection gap. It remains one of the most serious shortfalls in
international efforts to address humanitarian crises.
 As global leaders sought to economically isolate the Taliban, their policy approaches have
plunged the country into a humanitarian catastrophe.
 Any attempt by Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K) to take advantage of the shift in power portends
violence and civilian harm. Meanwhile, Afghanistan faces ongoing drought and a possible fourth
wave of COVID-19.
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) projected that by the middle of 2022, Afghanistan
could face “universal poverty,” with 97% of Afghans living below the World Bank-designated
international poverty line of $1.90 a day.

On Sept. 23, the U.S., through the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Department
of State, announced nearly $327 million in additional humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan. Since
August 2021, the U.S. has provided more than $1.1 billion in humanitarian assistance for the country.

The UN Secretary-General António Guterres launched a High-level Pledging Event on March 31 that
aimed to increase funding for Afghanistan from international donors. In calling the international
community to action, Guterres said, “Wealthy, powerful countries cannot ignore the consequences of
their decisions on the most vulnerable.” According to UN officials, donor countries pledged only $2.44
billion towards the $4.4 billion appeal.