The World Bank has come up with a proposal to provide some $500 million from an Afghanistan aid fund, frozen since the Taliban took over the country in August, to humanitarian agencies in the country, Reuters is reporting. The money will come from the $1.5 billion Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund.
The money will go mainly to addressing urgent health care needs in Afghanistan, Reuters reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the plans. It will not cover salaries for teachers and other government workers, however, amid fears that the public sector workers will stop showing up for work. Another concern, according to the report, is how to get the funds into Afghanistan without exposing the financial institutions involved to US sanctions, despite the fact that the US Treasury is assuring banks that they can process humanitarian transactions.
The World Bank will have no oversight of the funds once transferred into Afghanistan, according to the report. There is concern about the lack of a mechanism to monitor disbursements of funds in Afghanistan to ensure Taliban leaders and fighters do not use them.