A military helicopter is pictured flying over Kabul, Afghanistan November 4, 2021. Photo: REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

i24 News – Donors agreed on Friday to transfer $280 million from a frozen trust fund to the World Food Program (WFP) and UNICEF to support nutrition and health in Afghanistan.

The World Bank-administered Afghan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF) will be used to help the country as it faces famine and economic freefall.

According to the bank, $180 million will be given to the WFP to bolster food security and $100 million to UNICEF to provide essential health services.

As Afghanistan sinks into a severe economic and humanitarian crisis that accelerated in August when the Taliban took power, the money will aim to support food insecurity and health programs.

The United States and other donors cut off financial aid of which Afghanis became dependent on during 20 years of war, as more than $9 billion of the country’s hard currency assets were frozen.

Nearly 23 million people – 55 percent of the population – are facing extreme levels of hunger, the United Nations warned, adding that roughly nine million are at risk of famine.

Using the ARTF to channel the money appears to be a way to get funding into Afghanistan in a manner that does not implicate US sanctions against the Taliban, Reuters reported.

The funds will enable “UNICEF to provide 12.5 million people with basic and essential health services and vaccinate 1 million people, while WFP will be able to provide 2.7 million people with food assistance and nearly 840,000 mothers and children with nutrition assistance,” the World Bank said.