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THE government has been accused of turning its back on the people of Afghanistan after an official watchdog said British aid to the nation has more than halved.
The Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) said that Britain is expected to provide £100 million in humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan in 2023-24, compared with £246m in the previous year.
The watchdog’s latest review of funding since the Taliban takeover in 2021 said that the sharp fall followed successive cuts to Britain’s aid budget.
It found that the slash in funding has resulted in programmes for polio vaccinations and the clearance of landmines and improvised explosive devices being halted or delayed.
ICAI commissioner Sir Hugh Bayley, who led the report, said: “As the humanitarian situation continues to worsen in Afghanistan, and women and girls’ hard-won rights are being lost, we felt it was important to look again at how Britain is supporting the people of Afghanistan through the aid programme.
“The reduction in aid funding has led to programmes that directly benefited Afghan people being stopped or postponed.”
He also warned the lack of a British diplomatic presence in Afghanistan could undermine its contribution to the international aid response.
Stephanie Draper, chief executive at Bond, the British network for NGOs, said: “Britain is turning its back on the people of Afghanistan, who are facing a worsening humanitarian crisis.
“Cuts to programmes in the country mean the government has abandoned women and girls at a time when their rights are deteriorating.
“Reallocating such a huge proportion of aid to cover in-country refugee costs has meant that Britain is less able to respond and allocate funding to humanitarian crises, which undermines the purpose of aid and puts our global credibility on aid at risk.
“The government must deliver on its commitment to the Afghan people by reversing cuts to programmes in the country.”
Labour shadow cabinet minister for international development Preet Kaur Gill said: “This report paints a stark vision for the future for Afghanistan’s people and Britain’s waning influence in the world.
“Today famine looms over the country, while millions of women are denied their basic rights.
“It is farcical and a betrayal of the Afghans who supported the allied mission that this government is cutting lifesaving support for them in order to prop up its failing asylum system.”
