Afghanistan’s National Statistics and Information Authority (NSIA) has claimed that certain foreign institutions were misleading the world by presenting false statistics about humanitarian aid and embezzling tens of millions of dollars in the name of Afghan people, local media reported.
Criticizing the way foreign aid is being provided, the deputy director of the NSIA, Hasibullah Muwahed, said that most foreign institutions, including the World Food Programme (WFP) give wrong figures to the people every day, Tolo News reported.
“Unfortunately, foreign institutions, including the WFP and most other institutions, give different and wrong figures to the people every day, and in this way they want to deceive the people of Afghanistan and the world. Unfortunately, these figures have no basis,” the media outlet quoted Muwahed as saying.
Doing so not only does not solve the country’s economic problems but it also increases the poverty rate in Afghanistan, he added.
Notably, statistics from the WFP show that the program has spent USD 2.6 billion to deliver food to more than 18 million people in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the Taliban has said that it is difficult to improve the economic situation of the country with humanitarian aid.
“Humanitarian aid can keep the nation alive, but it cannot make the people self-sufficient,” the media outlet quoted Abdul Rahman Habib, spokesman for the Taliban Ministry of Economy, as saying.
However, Afghan people believe that humanitarian aid is not properly distributed to those in need.
“Most of the aid which they receive is distributed to their own relatives, but it does not reach the deserving people at all,” Tolo News quoted a teacher as saying.
Notably, the United Nations has requested USD 5 billion in aid to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan.
The Afghan government collapsed on August 15 when then-president Ashraf Ghani fled to Afghanistan, leading to the Taliban taking over the country.
The Taliban’s swift ascension to power in Afghanistan has triggered economic disarray and a dire humanitarian crisis in the country. (ANI)
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