Kabul: UN officials appealed for $800 million to fill a chronic funding gap for Afghanistan on Friday, with a senior aid official describing the situation as catastrophic with at least one third of people expected to be facing hunger.
Humanitarian needs are catastrophic, are at large-scale and are increasing, Wafaa Saeed Abdelatef of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said at a virtual briefing. These humanitarian needs are coming from decades of conflict, compounded by drought and Covid-19.
Meanwhile, The Kabul airport attack, which killed 13 U.S. troops and at least 79 Afghans, was claimed by Islamic State militants. The Islamic State’s Afghan affiliate, ISIS-Khorosan, has emerged as an enemy of both the West and of the Taliban.
The attack marked the first U.S. military casualties in Afghanistan since February 2020 and represented the deadliest incident for American troops there in a decade.
US General Frank McKenzie, the head of U.S. Central Command, had said on Thursday that initial information was that two suicide bombers had attacked the airport gate and the nearby Baron hotel.
I can confirm for you that we do not believe that there was a second explosion at or near the Baron Hotel, that it was one suicide bomber, Army Major General William Taylor told reporters on Friday. He said U.S. troops wounded in the attack were now being treated in Germany.
Taylor said about 300 U.S. citizens had been evacuated in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of Americans evacuated to about 5,100.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told the reporters during the same briefing that the United States believed there are still “specific, credible” threats against the airport.
We certainly are prepared and would expect future attempts, Kirby said, adding: We’re monitoring these threats, very, very specifically, virtually in real time.
U.S. officials have said the biggest threat facing the airport are potential rocket attacks or car bombs.
Thursday’s attack occurred during a U.S.-led evacuation of tens of thousands of people. The Taliban came to power nearly two weeks ago as foreign forces began withdrawing, ending a 20-year war.
The UN has appealed for $1.3 billion to reach 16 million people in Afghanistan this year, but a $800 million gap remains.