The Philippine government has pledged $100,000 (approximately P5.1 million) to support the humanitarian response in Afghanistan, the Philippine Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva said ON Friday.
“This is in line with our strong humanitarian tradition and solidarity with the Afghan people,” the agency said in a statement.
The pledge was made during a high-level meeting called by UN Secretary-General António Guterres and co-hosted by the United Kingdom, Germany, and Qatar.
The UN-coordinated relief operation for Afghanistan is appealing for $4.4 billion, three times the amount requested in 2021.
A year after the Taliban fighters seized the Afghan capital and took over the country, Afghanistan was plunged into an economic and humanitarian crisis of disastrous proportions.
“Without immediate action, we face a starvation and malnutrition crisis in Afghanistan,” the UN chief said.
Guterres said the Afghan people were already selling their children and even body parts in order to feed their families. With the country’s “effectively collapsed” economy, the UN said there was “very little” cash that even international aid could barely function.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), food security levels have “plunged at an alarming rate, leaving half the population facing acute hunger, including nine million in a state of emergency food insecurity – the highest number in the world.”
Brought about by years of conflict and recurring drought, the UN said more than 24.4 million Afghans require humanitarian assistance to survive.