KABUL (SW) – Recently, Indrika Ratwatte, Deputy Special Representative in Humanitarian Affairs of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), in a meeting with Mohammad Abdul Kabir, Acting Deputy Prime Minister for Political Affairs of the Islamic Emirate, has said that UN intends to request more aids for capacity-building in Afghanistan.
Hamdullah Fetrat, Deputy Spokesman for the Islamic Emirate, says: “Indrika Ratwatte, in this meeting, said that in addition to the $3 billion aid request from donor countries for humanitarian aid, this institution plans to request $2 billion for capacity-building.”
Officials from the Ministry of Economy state that humanitarian aid to Afghanistan has been effective in the short-term in reducing family poverty and combating food insecurity.
Abdul Rahman Habib, spokesperson for the Ministry of Economy, says that the ministry has entrepreneurship programs in place to further reduce poverty.
“The fundamental solution is creating job opportunities for the people, which this ministry has programs in place for poverty reduction,” he said.
According to announcements from the World Food Programme (WFP), since the beginning of the ongoing year, Germany has provided 15 million euros; Russia, 1 million dollars; the European Union, 20 million euros; South Korea, 4 million dollars; Britain, 36 million dollars; Japan, 13 million; and Spain, 1 million euros, to Afghan citizens through this agency.
Shabir Beshiri, an economic expert, emphasizing the ineffectiveness of humanitarian aid in reducing poverty, says that countries must support foundational economic programs instead.
“Reducing poverty and humanitarian aid are not related, and poverty does not decrease in the country with this humanitarian aid. We need to support employment generation programs,” he added.
Nasir Ahmad Rashtia, another economic expert, however, says, “It is necessary for the world to provide economic assistance to Afghanistan, and when this assistance is provided, it will lead to the initiation of economic and developmental projects.”
Previously, Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, had stated that more than half of Afghanistan’s population will need humanitarian aid in 2024.
