Australia has pledged an additional $50 million in humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan as the country continues to face a severe humanitarian crisis.

In a joint statement on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Penny Wong and International Development Minister Anne Aly said the funding will focus on addressing urgent needs, particularly among women and girls.

The new allocation brings Australia’s total humanitarian support to Afghanistan since 2021 to $310 million. Nearly 22 million people in the country are in urgent need of aid due to economic collapse, food insecurity and ongoing restrictions.

Wong said Australia’s support aims to save lives and meet basic needs, while Aly noted the assistance will be delivered through trusted international partners.

The funding will be channelled through agencies including the World Food Programme and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Afghanistan remains heavily reliant on international aid as millions continue to face hunger and limited access to healthcare.

Russian media, citing the country’s Ministry of Defense, report that Vasily Osmakov, Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister, held talks on Wednesday in Moscow with Mohammad Farid, the Deputy Defense Minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan for Strategy and Policy.

According to the reports, the meeting focused on the current situation and prospects for expanding cooperation in areas of mutual interest between the two sides.

Russian sources said that at the conclusion of the talks, both parties agreed to take further joint steps aimed at establishing more regular and systematic cooperation.

So far, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has not issued an official statement regarding the meeting or its outcomes.

A U.S. government oversight agency that for nearly two decades tracked waste, fraud and abuse in American spending on Afghanistan is scheduled to shut down on January 31, 2026.

The office, known as the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), was created by the U.S. Congress in 2008 to independently review how billions of dollars in military, development and humanitarian aid were used in Afghanistan. It conducted audits, inspections and investigations to detect misuse of funds and recommend changes to improve accountability.

Over its lifetime, SIGAR documented thousands of instances of waste, fraud and abuse in U.S.-led reconstruction programs and reported on projects that failed to meet goals or were never completed. In its final reports, the office estimated that tens of billions of dollars intended for Afghanistan reconstruction were lost or mismanaged, and it highlighted systemic problems in planning, oversight and execution of U.S. efforts.

The closure of SIGAR comes as part of U.S. defense policy changes that set a deadline for the agency’s work to end this month.