The World Bank announced on Dec. 10 the allocation of $280 million to Afghanistan through the reallocation of funds from the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF). The organization had suspended its aid to Kabul at the end of August after the Taliban returned to power, and this decision is the first step to repurpose funds in the ARTF portfolio to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan at this critical time.
Until this event, the ARTF, a multi-donor trust fund, was “the largest source of development financing for Afghanistan, funding up to 30% of Afghanistan’s budget and supporting core government functions,” the World Bank statement said.