The U.N.’s aid coordination office, backed by Britain, Germany and Qatar, is launching its biggest-ever appeal for funds for a single country in hopes of collecting $4.4 billion to help Afghanistan, a decidedly ambitious call to assist the impoverished country again run by Taliban militants when much of the world’s attention is on Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“Ukraine is of vital importance, but Afghanistan, you know, calls to our soul for commitment and loyalty,” said Martin Griffiths, who heads the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, ahead of Thursday’s pledge drive. “In simple terms, the humanitarian program that we are appealing for is to save lives.”
Less than a year after Taliban fighters toppled its internationally backed government, Afghanistan is buckling beneath a debilitating humanitarian crisis and an economy in free fall. Some 23 million people face acute food insecurity, the U.N. says.
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