The international community has promised more than 1 trillion won in aid for Afghanistan, where poverty and hunger are worsening after the Taliban retaken the Islamic militant group.
At the ‘High-Level Conference on the Humanitarian Situation in Afghanistan’ hosted by the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, the international community, including the United States and Germany, announced that they would provide US$1 billion, or about 1.175 trillion won, of our money, Reuters reported.
By country, the United States promised to pay an additional $64 million (approximately KRW 75.2 billion) through the United Nations and its affiliates.
When combined with the previously announced amount, foreign media reported that it would amount to $330 million (about 387.7 billion won) in this fiscal year alone.
Germany said it would give Afghanistan and neighboring countries 500 million euros (about 691.8 billion won).
But senior officials at the meeting pointed out that future support for Afghanistan could be affected by how the Taliban govern Afghanistan.
“We need the Taliban’s commitment to uphold the rights of humanitarian agencies and the treatment and rights of minorities, women and girls,” US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in a video message.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas also said the Taliban’s level of respect for human rights “will become the criterion for determining our future involvement in the new Afghan government”.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who presided over the conference, appealed to the international community for assistance, saying that US$ 606 million, or about 712 billion won, is urgently needed by the end of the year to help the Afghan people.
“One in three Afghans don’t know where to get their next meal, poverty rates are also skyrocketing and (social) services are on the verge of collapse,” he explained.
In particular, he said that Afghan people are suffering from severe drought, food depletion, and COVID-19.
(Photo = Getty Images Korea)
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