{"id":1357576,"date":"2022-03-03T20:43:07","date_gmt":"2022-03-04T01:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1357576"},"modified":"2022-03-03T20:46:39","modified_gmt":"2022-03-04T01:46:39","slug":"world-bank-releases-1-billion-in-aid-to-afghanistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/world-bank-releases-1-billion-in-aid-to-afghanistan\/","title":{"rendered":"World Bank Releases $1 Billion in Aid to Afghanistan"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fworld-bank-releases-1-billion-in-aid-to-afghanistan%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1357576&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/GettyImages-1236883103-640x335-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">The World Bank on Tuesday approved a request by the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF) to release more than $1 billion in aid to Afghanistan, India\u2019s WION news site <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wionews.com\/south-asia\/afghanistan-to-receive-more-than-1-billion-in-aid-from-the-world-bank-funds-to-bypass-taliban-457982\">reported<\/a>\u00a0Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe approach will guide the provision of over $1 billion in funds from the ARTF in the form of recipient-executed grants to selected United Nations agencies and international NGOs and will remain outside the control of the interim Taliban administration,\u201d the World Bank Board of Executive Directors announced in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldbank.org\/en\/news\/press-release\/2022\/03\/01\/world-bank-announces-expanded-approach-to-supporting-the-people-of-afghanistan\">press release<\/a> on March 1.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>The World Bank <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artf.af\/artf-overview\">administers<\/a> the ARTF on behalf of 34 donors, according to ARTF\u2019s official website.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAny decision to redirect ARTF money requires the approval of all its donors, of which the United States has been the largest,\u201d Reuters <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/asia-pacific\/exclusive-world-bank-backs-using-280-million-frozen-aid-funds-afghanistan-2021-12-01\/\">noted<\/a> in December 2021, when reporting on the World Bank\u2019s approval to release $280 million in ARTF funding to Afghans.<\/p>\n<p>The global lender green-lit ARTF\u2019s request at the time to transfer $100 million to the United Nations Children\u2019s Fund (UNICEF) and $180 million to the World Food Program (WFP) \u201cto support the humanitarian response over the critical winter months,\u201d the World Bank recalled in its March 1 press release.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>As part of its latest Afghan fund disbursement, the World Bank will allow ARTF donors to decide on four projects worth a combined $600 million to address \u201curgent needs in education, heath, and agricultural sectors, as well as community livelihoods.\u201d This chunk of over half of the $1 billion in aid will be the first distribution, with plans to disburse the rest in 2022 as conditions on the ground permit.<\/p>\n<p>News of the ARTF\u2019s second fund release in two months comes as Afghans struggle to cope with a crippled economy caused in large part by the Taliban\u2019s takeover of the country on August 15, 2021. The Islamic fundamentalist group <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2021\/08\/15\/local-media-afghan-government-handing-country-to-taliban\/\">seized<\/a> control of Kabul, Afghanistan\u2019s seat of government, last summer after deposing the capital\u2019s U.S.-backed administration. The political upheaval prompted a chaotic turn of events that saw international aid agencies and lenders, such as the World Bank, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/business-58325545#:~:text=The%20World%20Bank%20has%20halted,prospects%2C%20especially%20for%20women%22.\">freeze<\/a> their usual funding to Afghanistan in an effort to prevent the assets from falling into the hands of the Taliban. Afghanistan relied almost entirely on foreign donations to fuel its economy prior to August 2021, meaning the global aid freeze severely impacted Afghan society.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cForeign governments ended financial aid constituting more than 70% of government expenditures while the United States led in the freezing of some $9 billion in Afghan central bank funds,\u201d Reuters <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/asia-pacific\/world-bank-board-backs-plan-shift-1-bln-frozen-afghan-trust-fund-source-2022-03-01\/\">recalled<\/a> on March 1.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe funding cuts accelerated an economic collapse, fueling a cash crunch and deepening a humanitarian crisis that the United Nations says has pushed more than half of Afghanistan\u2019s population of 39 million to the verge of starvation,\u201d according to the news agency.<\/p>\n<p>The Taliban, which previously ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, is still <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2021\/09\/23\/china-afghan-economic-sanctions-refugee\/\">subject<\/a> to financial sanctions imposed by the U.S. government and the United Nations (U.N.) in 2001. The two entities have used financial coercion against the Taliban in an effort to \u201cstarve the group of financing and curtail the ability of its leaders to travel,\u201d the <em>New York Times<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/08\/21\/business\/afghanistan-economy.html\">reported<\/a> on August 21, 2021.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA <a href=\"https:\/\/www.state.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Agreement-For-Bringing-Peace-to-Afghanistan-02.29.20.pdf\">2020 agreement<\/a> between the Trump administration and the Taliban called for a review of U.S. sanctions against the Taliban with the goal of removing them, but the group\u2019s toppling of the Afghan government makes this less likely,\u201d the newspaper observed at the time.<\/p>\n<p>Additional economic sanctions imposed on the Taliban by the\u00a0U.N. Security Council make it \u201ceven more complicated to reverse them even if countries such as China and Russia want to do business with Afghanistan,\u201d according to the <em>Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAid groups and nongovernmental organizations will have difficulty operating in Afghanistan while the sanctions are in place,\u201d the newspaper predicted.<\/p>\n<p>Several U.N. agencies have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2021\/11\/05\/u-n-working-taliban-offer-afghans-humanitarian-aid\/\">worked<\/a> with Taliban leaders to coordinate the release of humanitarian aid to Afghans since August 15, 2021, including the World Health Organization (W.H.O.), UNICEF, and WPF.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The World Bank on Tuesday approved a request by the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF) to release more than $1 billion in aid to Afghanistan, India\u2019s WION news site reported\u00a0Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1357576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1357576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1357576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1357576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1357576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1357576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1357576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}