Saudi FM announces 1b riyals in aid to Afghans

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud on Sunday announced one billion riyals in aid to Afghanistan. Addressing the 17th Extraordinary Session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers in Islamabad, the Saudi minister paid tribute to Pakistan for convening the moot and making the best arrangements in the shortest possible time.

Faisal stressed the need for looking at the Afghan issue on humanitarian grounds and that the people in the war-torn country, including women and children, were suffering. “The economic crisis in Afghanistan could get more serious, the people there are looking forward to our help,” he added.
He reiterated that “we want peace in Afghanistan” and that the tense situation in the war-ravaged country could have an impact on the region and the world.

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Pakistan is hosting the extraordinary meeting of foreign ministers from the OIC as well as representatives of the powerful countries in order to develop a joint strategy to prevent humanitarian crisis and economic collapse in Afghanistan. Afghanistan's finance ministry under the new Taliban government has recently prepared a draft national budget that, for the first time in two decades, is funded without foreign aid.

It comes as the country is mired in economic crisis and faces a looming humanitarian catastrophe the UN has called an "avalanche of hunger". Finance ministry spokesman Ahmad Wali Haqmal did not disclose the size of the draft budget -- which runs until December 2022 -- but told AFP it would go to the cabinet for approval before being published. "We are trying to finance it from our domestic revenues -- and we believe we can," he earlier told state television in an interview shared on Twitter.

Global donors suspended financial aid when the Taliban seized power in August and Western powers also froze access to billions of dollars in assets held abroad. UN bodies estimate that millions of Afghans could face hunger over the winter without urgent help, but aid has been hampered by international unwillingness to engage directly with the Taliban, in part because of concern over rights for women and political inclusion.

The abrupt withdrawal of foreign aid following the Taliban victory has pushed Afghanistan's fragile economy close to collapse. Millions are without work and the banking system is only partially functional.
The US has issued guidance that would permit personal cash remittances to Afghanistan but it has not relented on its refusal to release the $9 billion in central bank reserves or lift sanctions on a number of Taliban leaders.

The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) surveys showed an estimated 98% of Afghans are not eating enough, with seven in 10 families resorting to borrowing food, which pushes them deeper into poverty,
(With input from agencies)