Donors Expected To Back $280 Million Transfer For Afghanistan: Report

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

Donors including the United States are expected to allow the transfer of $280 million from a frozen trust fund to two aid agencies to help Afghanistan weather its humanitarian crisis, five sources familiar with the matter said on Friday.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there had been no objections so far to the transfer to the World Food Program (WFP) and UNICEF from the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF), which is administered by the World Bank.

Any of the 31 ARTF donors, of which the United States is the largest, could block the transfer by lodging an objection. A U.S. State Department spokesperson confirmed that the United States would not object to the transfer.

The money would boost food security and health programs in Afghanistan as it sinks into a severe economic and humanitarian crisis that accelerated in August when the Taliban overran the country as the Western-backed government collapsed and the last U.S. troops withdrew.