KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The UN has announced a €15 million ($16.1 million) contribution from the Netherlands to the Afghanistan Humanitarian Fund for 2024 as the country continues to plunge deeper into a humanitarian crisis.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday, September 22, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) welcomed the Netherlands’ new contribution to the Fund.
According to the UN statement, the Netherlands remains the third-largest donor to the Fund, contributing over €89 million since 2016.
The humanitarian situation in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan continues to deteriorate, with over half of the population, 23.7 million people, mostly women and children, in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.
The country remains highly vulnerable to frequent natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, and landslides, due to its mountainous terrain and ongoing environmental degradation.
Meanwhile, humanitarian agencies have encountered a significant funding shortfall over the past three years. The UN reported that only 30% of its $3.06 billion appeal for Afghanistan this year has been funded to date.
During her recent briefing to the UN Security Council, Roza Otunbayeva, the head of the UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), expressed concern about the significant underfunding of humanitarian operations in the country.
She said that 260 static and mobile health facilities have been closed so far due to the funding shortfall, with 171 more expected to close soon. She also noted that nearly 900,000 children requiring urgent treatment will not receive care, making them twelve times more likely to die than healthy children.
The Afghanistan Humanitarian Fund (AHF) was established in 2014 to facilitate rapid and strategic humanitarian efforts in Afghanistan.
The fund is managed by the UN humanitarian agency in Afghanistan (OCHA) and is made available to a wide range of partner organizations on the front lines of response, assisting those in need.
For 2024, the UN requested $59.8 million for the fund, but it has so far secured $48.5 million.
