Asian Development Bank wrote in a recent report that despite the absence of an internationally recognized government, ADB financial support to four specialized UN agencies to ensure the continued provision of essential services directly to the Afghan people.

According to the report, the ban on girls’ secondary education is a significant implementation constraint for ADB, the UN, and the rest of the donor community, adversely affecting the education component of the Sustaining Essential Services Delivery Project (Support for the Afghan People).

Asian Development Bank expressed concern over the economic and humanitarian crises in Afghanistan and wrote that following the current government takeover on 15 August 2021, development partner financing, which had recently accounted for 75% of public expenditures, was halted.

As a result, the economy was projected to have contracted by 30% in 2021, plunging the nation into near-universal poverty in 2022. The situation quickly escalated into a multidimensional protracted crisis.

It stated in the report that in November 2021, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan requested the Asian Development Bank (ADB) provide grant financing amounting to $405 million for emergency food assistance and food production support through the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO); core public health services, including coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines, through the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF); delivery of primary and secondary education, particularly for girls and young women through UNICEF; and project implementation and monitoring support through the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

The UN agencies were to undertake and implement the proposed activities during 2022 and 2023 without formally engaging with the de facto government and entirely outside the government budget.

The report states that from 2017 to 2021, Afghanistan was one of the five largest recipients of financial assistance from the Asian Development Bank.