A private meeting of the UN Security Council is held at the UN headquarters in New York on Jun 8, 2021. During the meeting, the council endorsed Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for a second five-year term. (PHOTO / XINHUA)
GENEVA – The United Nations said on Thursday it had set up a special trust fund to provide urgently-needed cash directly to Afghans through a system that would tap into donor funds frozen since the Taliban takeover last August.
Achim Steiner, the UN Development Programme's administrator, said that Germany, a first contributor, had pledged 50 million euros ($58 million) to the fund, and that it was in touch with other donors.
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"Discussions over the last few weeks have focused on how we do find a way to be able to mobilize these resources in view of the economic implosion that is now unfolding and the international community's repeated commitment not to abandon the people of Afghanistan," he told a news briefing.