Donors pledge $2.44bn for humanitarian response in Afghanistan

United Nations, April 1 Forty-one donors pledged more than $2.44 billion for the humanitarian response in Afghanistan and neighbouring countries, a top UN official announced Thursday.

"We count on you to disburse your generous pledges as quickly as possible," Xinhua news agency quoted Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Joyce Msuya as saying in a statement.

The announcement means the $4.4 billion appeal for the 2022 Afghanistan humanitarian response plan is now more than 50 per cent funded.

Before the pledging conference, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the Afghanistan plan was less than 13 per cent funded.

The biggest donor on Thursday was the US with a pledge of $512 million, followed by the UK ($374 million), Germany ($219 million), and China ($200 million).

Msuya expressed the hope that donors would exceed the commitments made at Thursday's conference and continue supporting the humanitarian response in Afghanistan, the UN Central Emergency Response Fund and the hundreds of millions of people in other crises worldwide.

The conference was held virtually by the UN, the UK, Germany and Qatar.

Afghanistan currently ranks as world's largest humanitarian crisis, and there is a serious risk of widespread famine., according to the UN.

The world body's estimates revealed that 97 per cent of Afghans could fall into poverty this year.

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