UK announces £30 million towards forcibly displaced Afghans amid Taliban takeover

The UK announced on Friday that it will release £30 million in aid to Afghanistan's neighbouring countries to help Afghans who have fled as part of the government’s attempt to support regional stability. 

Some £10 million will be given immediately to the UNHCR and other partners to provide Afghans with shelter, essential supplies and hygiene facilities, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office said in a statement released today. 

Twenty million pounds will be given to countries that receive a high number of forcibly displaced Afghans in order to provide them with services and supplies, as well as support them through registration and hosting. 

“It is vital that we help those fleeing Afghanistan and do not allow the crisis there to undermine regional stability,” Britain's Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said. 

"That’s why these life-saving supplies are so important. They will provide Afghans who have left everything behind with essential kits offering shelter and basic sanitation as they seek to pick up the pieces of their lives."

Raab went on to add: "This aid demonstrates the UK’s commitment to shoulder our humanitarian responsibility and support those countries who will face the greatest demands for those displaced."

Raab met with Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Quresh on Friday following the aid announcement to secure safe travel for Britons and Afghans out of the country. 

After the Taliban took over Afghanistan, the UK announced this year’s funding of £286 million in Afghan aid and a resettlement scheme for fleeing Afghans offering 5,000 places in the first year, rising to 20,000 in the future. 

This comes as some 550,000 people have been internally displaced in Afghanistan since the start of the year.

The UN warned that up to half a million Afghans could flee by the end of 2021 which comes on top of 2.2 million Afghans already across borders in other countries and 3.5 million people forced to leave their homes and internally displaced.