Funding cuts to Afghanistan are the biggest threat to helping women, aid agency chief warns Funding cuts to Afghanistan are the biggest threat to helping the country’s women, the chief of a top aid agency warned Sunday.
Jan Egeland, the secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said women and girls were bearing the brunt of dwindling financial support for nongovernmental groups and humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.
Sanctions against the country’s new rulers, a halt on bank transfers and frozen billions in Afghanistan’s currency reserves have cut off access to global institutions and the outside money that supported the aid-dependent economy before the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces.
The biggest threat to programs helping Afghan women is funding cuts.
Egeland, who has made several visits to Afghanistan since 2021, said: “We see one after the other peer organization cutting programming and staff in the last two years.
