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OCHA warns funding is drying up, putting millions of Afghan lives at risk

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The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid (OCHA) has warned that if funding for humanitarian aid is not received immediately, millions of lives will be put at risk in Afghanistan.

OCHA said in a tweet on Wednesday that millions of Afghans will face famine, disease and death if immediate funding is not provided to address the urgent needs in Afghanistan.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid added that currently, due to insufficient resources, food aid for the needy in Afghanistan should be halved.

“Funding for the Afghanistan appeal is drying up putting millions of lives at risk. Already, the food basket has had to be cut to half due to insufficient resources. If funding is not urgently secured, millions of Afghans will be staring down the barrel of famine, disease & death,” OCHA tweeted.

Meanwhile, the World Food Program (WFP) announced early this week that $800 million is needed for the next six months to save the people who are facing famine in Afghanistan.

According to this institution, if humanitarian aid to Afghanistan does not continue in a sustainable manner, the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in Afghanistan will face famine.

Earlier, OCHA called the Afghanistan crisis the biggest and most serious "humanitarian crisis" in the world and said that out of the $4.6 billion requested by this organization, only 5% of these requests have been provided in Afghanistan in 2023.

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Suicide bombing in Kunduz kills 5, injures 7

Jumaddin Khaksar, a spokesman for the provincial police headquarters, added that the suicide bomber detonated his explosives near Kabul Bank in Kunduz city.

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A spokesman for the Kunduz police headquarters says five people were killed and seven others injured in a suicide bombing on Tuesday morning.

Jumaddin Khaksar, a spokesman for the provincial police headquarters, added that the suicide bomber detonated his explosives near Kabul Bank in Kunduz city.

According to Khaksar, the victims of the incident include security personnel, bank guards and civilians.

He added that no one has been arrested in connection with the explosion and that efforts are underway by security forces to identify the perpetrators of the explosion.

So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the bombing.

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Norwegian Refugee Council NGO to suspend aid work in over 20 countries due to Trump policy

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that the administration would reach out to USAID to identify and designate programs that would be exempted from the stop-work orders.

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The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said on Monday it would suspend humanitarian work in nearly 20 countries worldwide after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a freeze on U.S. foreign aid worldwide when he took office on January 20, Reuters reported.

The non-governmental organisation received just under 20% of its funding from the United States in 2024, or around $150 million, it said, with that funding helping some 1.6 million people worldwide.

"We have, in our 79-year history, never experienced such an abrupt discontinuation of aid funding from any of our many donor nations, inter-governmental organisations, or private donor agencies," the NRC said in a statement.

The agency said the consequences of suspending aid would become increasingly serious for people facing crises around the world.

Already in Ukraine, NRC said, it had to halt the scheduled February distribution of emergency support to 57,000 people in communities along the front lines and had to lay off staff worldwide.

The Trump administration said last Monday it would put on leave all directly hired employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) globally and recall thousands of personnel working overseas, read the report.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that the administration would reach out to USAID to identify and designate programs that would be exempted from the stop-work orders.

However, the NRC said it was unable to take advantage of the temporary waiver unless the U.S. government resumed payments to its partners for work completed before the foreign assistance pause.

"We currently have millions of dollars in outstanding payment requests to the U.S. government. Without an immediate solution we may, at the end of February, be forced to halt U.S.-funded lifesaving humanitarian programmes," it said.

That included supplying clean water to 300,000 people trapped in the blockaded city of Djibo in Burkina Faso, and cutting funding to nearly 500 bakeries in Darfur, Sudan, which provide food hundreds of thousands of people, the NRC said.

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IEA slams Netanyahu’s suggestion Saudi Arabia host Palestinian state

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The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) on Monday condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s suggestion that Saudi Arabia’s land be used to establish a Palestinian state.

IEA’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the suggestion is “unrealistic and flagrant violation of internationally recognized facts and Saudi Arabia’s sovereignty.”

“Such statements by Netanyahu constitute a direct affront to established norms and a clear infringement on the legitimate rights of the Palestinians,” the statement said.

The IEA reiterated that Palestine is “the rightful land of the Palestinian people,” adding that “as long as the occupation continues, the inalienable rights of Palestinian people will remain violated, Gaza and the broader region will remain unstable, and such scenario benefits no one.”

On Thursday, Netanyahu told Channel 14: “The Saudis can create a Palestinian state in Saudi Arabia; they have a lot of land over there.”

President Donald Trump meanwhile has said he is "committed to buying and owning" the Gaza Strip and relocating the two million Palestinians living there. This comes despite global condemnation of the plan he unveiled last week.

He told reporters that he might allow Middle East countries to be involved in rebuilding parts of the territory and that he would make sure the Palestinian refugees would "live beautifully".

Hamas and Palestinians reiterated that Palestinian land was "not for sale".

But Netanyahu praised Trump's proposal as "revolutionary and creative".

 

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