UN launches appeal for $8bn in aid for Afghanistan in 2022

Kabul: The United Nations has launched an appeal for $8 billion in aid for Afghanistan in 2022, Deborah Lyons, the UN Secretary General's special representative for Afghanistan said on Wednesday.

"The approximately USD 1 billion that we asked for last year to address the humanitarian crisis now must be supplemented by USD 4.4 billion in additional humanitarian assistance for 2022," Deborah Lyons told a UN Security Council meeting, Sputnik reported.

"I am also pleased to announce that this afternoon here in Kabul, we launched our One-UN Transitional Engagement Framework for Afghanistan, for which we are seeking an additional USD 3.6 billion. This brings the total ask for 2022 to USD 8 billion," Sputnik quoted Lyons as saying.

According to a UN press release, the new framework requires USD 3.6 billion in additional funding to support health care and educational services, basic infrastructure as well as maintain critical capacities for service delivery and social cohesion promotion with a focus on socio-economic needs of women and girls, the Russian News Agency reported.

The humanitarian situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated drastically since the Taliban took control of Kabul.

A combination of a suspension of foreign aid, the freezing of Afghan government assets, and international sanctions on the Taliban, have plunged the country, already suffering from high poverty levels, into a full-blown economic crisis.