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World Bank Pledges $2 Billion for Flood-ravaged Pakistan

The World Bank. (Asharq Al-Awsat Arabic)
The World Bank. (Asharq Al-Awsat Arabic)
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World Bank Pledges $2 Billion for Flood-ravaged Pakistan

The World Bank. (Asharq Al-Awsat Arabic)
The World Bank. (Asharq Al-Awsat Arabic)

The World Bank said it will provide about $2 billion in aid to Pakistan, ravaged by floods that have killed more than 1,600 people this year, the largest pledge of assistance so far.

Unprecedented monsoon rains and flooding this year — which many experts attribute to climate change — have also injured some 13,000 people across the country since mid-June. The floods have displaced millions and destroyed crops, half a million homes and thousands of kilometers (miles) of roads, The Associated Press said.

The World Bank’s vice president for South Asia, Martin Raiser, announced the pledge in an overnight statement after concluding his first official visit to the country Saturday.

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of lives and livelihoods due to the devastating floods and we are working with the federal and provincial governments to provide immediate relief to those who are most affected,” he said.

Raiser met with federal ministers and the chief minister of southern Sindh province, the most affected region, where he toured the badly hit Dadu district.

Thousands of makeshift medical camps for flood survivors have been set up in the province, where the National Disaster Management Authority said outbreaks of typhoid, malaria and dengue fever have killed at least 300 people.

The death toll prompted the World Health Organization last week to raise the alarm about a “second disaster,” with doctors on the ground racing to battle outbreaks.

“As an immediate response, we are repurposing funds from existing World Bank-financed projects to support urgent needs in health, food, shelter, rehabilitation and cash transfers," Raiser said.

The World Bank agreed last week in a meeting with Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly to provide $850 million in flood relief for Pakistan. The $2 billion figure includes that amount.

Raiser said the bank is working with provincial authorities to begin as quickly as possible repairing infrastructure and housing and “restore livelihoods, and to help strengthen Pakistan’s resilience to climate-related risks. We are envisaging financing of about $2 billion to that effect."

Over the past two months, Pakistan has sent nearly 10,000 doctors, nurses and other medical staff to tend to survivors in Sindh province.

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Taliban Say It’s Absurd to Accuse Them of Gender Discrimination

Afghan women stitch clothes at a workshop in Kandahar, Afghanistan, 04 September 2024. EPA/QUDRATULLAH RAZWAN
Afghan women stitch clothes at a workshop in Kandahar, Afghanistan, 04 September 2024. EPA/QUDRATULLAH RAZWAN
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Taliban Say It’s Absurd to Accuse Them of Gender Discrimination

Afghan women stitch clothes at a workshop in Kandahar, Afghanistan, 04 September 2024. EPA/QUDRATULLAH RAZWAN
Afghan women stitch clothes at a workshop in Kandahar, Afghanistan, 04 September 2024. EPA/QUDRATULLAH RAZWAN

The Taliban said Thursday it was absurd to accuse them of gender discrimination and other human rights violations, as four countries vow to hold Afghanistan’s rulers accountable under international law for their treatment of women and girls.
Australia, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands are set to start legal proceedings against the Taliban for violating a UN convention on women, to which Afghanistan is a party.
The countries launched the initiative on Wednesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, which is taking place in New York until Monday.
Despite promising more moderate rule after they seized power in 2021, the Taliban have barred women and girls from education beyond sixth grade, many public spaces and most jobs. In August, the Vice and Virtue Ministry issued laws banning women’s bare faces and prohibiting them from raising their voices in public.
More than 20 countries expressed their support Thursday for the proposed legal action against the Taliban.
“We condemn the gross and systematic human rights violations and abuses in Afghanistan, particularly the gender-based discrimination against women and girls," the countries said.
“Afghanistan is responsible under international law for its ongoing gross and systematic violation of numerous obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women,” they added.
The countries said they did not politically recognize the Taliban as the legitimate leaders of the Afghan population.
“Afghanistan’s failure to fulfill its human rights treaty obligations is a key obstacle to normalization of relations,” they said.
The Taliban’s deputy spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said human rights were protected in Afghanistan and that nobody faced discrimination.
“Unfortunately, an attempt is being made to spread propaganda against Afghanistan through the mouths of several fugitive (Afghan) women and misrepresent the situation,” he said on social media platform X.
The Taliban reject all criticism of their policies, especially those affecting women and girls, describing it as interference. They maintain that their actions are in line with their own interpretation of Islamic law.
Fereshta Abbasi, an Afghanistan researcher at Human Rights Watch, urged other countries to register their support for the four countries’ legal action and for them to involve Afghan women as the process moved forward.
“The announcement by Germany, Canada, Australia and the Netherlands may mark the beginning of a path to justice for the Taliban’s egregious human rights violations against Afghan women and girls,” said Abbasi.