Link to article: https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/3/2/world-bank-approves-1bn-to-fund-urgent-needs-in-afghanistan
The World Bank announced earlier this month that they will unfreeze over 1 billion dollars worth of funds to finance programs in Afghanistan. After the Taliban’s take over of Afghanistan in August 2021, the country’s economic and humanitarian situation has been in a nosedive with thousands of Afghani citizens facing starvation, disease, and violence from the regime. The World Bank announced the goal of the funds is to help finance, “education, agriculture, health and family programs”
The World Bank will distribute these funds through organizations like the United Nations to bypass the Taliban-controlled government. The World Bank also stated the financing will have a strong focus on women in Afghanistan because of the oppression they have faced at the hands of the new Afghani government.
This economic stimulation can hopefully jumpstart the Afghani economy however, the problems run much deeper. Afghanistan has been torn apart by war for decades and is now under the control of a corrupt, theocratic, oppressive terrorist group. Also, these problems have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic which affected even the wealthiest of countries.
Likely, the United Nations will begin its investments in agricultural sectors because almost 40 million Afghanis are on the brink of starvation. Also, Afghanistan is located in the Middle Eastern shatter belt therefore stabilization will be almost impossible to establish. Therefore, violence, poverty, and famine are likely to continue in Afghanistan and other Middle Eastern countries like Syria.
This demonstrates the importance of international institutions in international humanitarian crises. For example, the American Red Cross was able to enter Rwanda during the genocide and help save thousands of Tutsi and moderate-Hutus from the violence. These institutions are usually allowed to enter these conflicts as they are well respected by the international community and can be seen as neutral parties who can help mitigate these humanitarian crises.
However, the United Nations is often not invited into humanitarian crises because of the influence of P5 countries in the Security Council. For example, UN Peacekeepers weren’t sent into the Balkans in the 1990s because of Russia’s friendship with Serbia.