Two and a half million Afghans, most of them women and girls, will receive urgent life-saving humanitarian support thanks to £50 million ($68 million) of funding announced by the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Sunday.

According to a statement issued by the UK government, the funding, which is drawn from the UK’s £286 million aid commitment to Afghanistan announced by the Prime Minister in September, will be channelled via UN agencies and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The humanitarian situation in Afghanistan has rapidly deteriorated since the collapse of the previous government in August.

The funding announced on Sunday will help the critical need for food, nutrition, shelter and medicine over the winter months in Afghanistan and bolster the UN’s wider humanitarian response.

Protecting women and girls from gender-based violence will also be prioritized, the statement read.

Johnson said “two months ago this week NATO withdrew its final forces from Afghanistan after the most extensive evacuation effort in the alliance’s history, an effort which saved a huge number of lives”, according to the statement.

“We now have a responsibility to protect the people of Afghanistan most at risk under the Taliban (IEA) regime, particularly women and girls.

“Today’s funding will provide urgent protection for the most vulnerable people. But preventing a humanitarian disaster in Afghanistan and preserving the gains of the last twenty years will require a truly global effort,” he was quoted as saying.

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