Germany Urges $12 Billion Crisis Fund Ahead of Afghan Conference

(Bloomberg) -- Germany called for a 10 billion-euro ($12 billion) United Nations fund to address humanitarian emergencies, a day before a UN conference to rally aid for Afghanistan.

Development Minister Gerd Mueller said international aid should be shifted to focus on crisis prevention, according to an interview with Funke Media Group. A humanitarian crisis is building up in Afghanistan with half of the country’s population in need of aid, he said. 

“With a UN emergency aid and crisis fund of 10 billion euros, we could look ahead and prevent deaths worldwide from hunger and lack of medicines,” Mueller was quoted as saying. “What’s needed are precautionary investments.”

Afghans are suffering from the Taliban’s violent rise to power, severe drought and the coronavirus pandemic, he said. He called for quick international action to maintain basic services in Afghanistan. 

Europe is eager to avoid a repeat of the 2015 refugee crisis caused by the Syrian war when more than 1 million migrants entered the European Union. The EU has floated a 300 million-euro plan to resettle about 30,000 refugees inside the bloc, including from Afghanistan.

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