KABUL (SW) – Officials of the United States World Food Programme (WFP) in Afghanistan stated that this agency needs urgent funds to provide aid assistance to 16 million needy people in the country.
Philippe Kropf, Head of Communications of the WFP, tells Salam Watandar that of the 16 million people in need of assistance for survival, they can only support 7 million with emergency food assistance due to a lack of funding.
He adds that the WFP in the past weeks, they have received substantial fresh resources, including most recently US$21 million from the European Union.
“…but we are still running on a half-empty tank and we have to pay back internal loans that we took to pay for our activities last year,” Kropf said. This included money WFP borrowed to respond to new crises like the earthquakes in Herat and the forced returns of Afghan families from Pakistan, according to him.
“Last year, WFP in Afghanistan was forced to drop 10 million people from its lifesaving food assistance and halve food rations to the bare minimum, already due to lack of funding. We urge our donors to step up so that we can reach all those families who depend on WFP’s food assistance to survive.”
Recently, the UN World Food Programme in Afghanistan has announced that this agency needs 760 million dollars to continue its cooperation in Afghanistan in the next six months.
Meanwhile, Abdulrahman Habib, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Economy, says that the aids will be more effective in improving the condition of citizens if they are coordinated with the de-facto government’s plans.
“If these aids are adapted according to the plan and job creation programs with the coordination of the relevant ministries and departments, it will improve the living conditions of our compatriots,” he added.
