Govt ‘cutting lifesaving support to prop up failing asylum system’: shadow minister Britain to provide £100m in humanitarian assistance in 2023-2024 but gave £246m last year LONDON: The UK is set to cut foreign aid to Afghanistan by more than half, with Britain’s humanitarian watchdog warning that the government is “turning its back” on the country, The Independent reported on Thursday. Britain will provide Afghanistan with £100 million ($124 million) in humanitarian assistance in 2023-2024, the Independent Commission for Aid Impact said. But last year Afghanistan received £246 million, with the massive drop attributed to aid budget cuts and reallocation of funds toward housing refugees in the UK, ICAI added. Sir Hugh Bayley, ICAI commissioner, said: “As the humanitarian situation continues to worsen in Afghanistan, and women and girls’ hard-won rights are being lost, we felt it was important to look again at how the UK is supporting the people of Afghanistan through the aid program. “While the UK has played an important role in the international aid response since the Taliban takeover, our information note shows that the reduction in UK aid funding has led to programs that directly benefited Afghan people being stopped or postponed. “It also highlights the lack of a UK diplomatic presence in Afghanistan which might undermine the effective management of the UK’s contribution to the international aid response.” The UK was previously a “significant donor” to Afghanistan, the watchdog said, highlighting an earlier government pledge to provide £286 million per year from 2021 onward. But that figure had already been cut by 2022, resulting in delays to vaccination programs as well as land mine and IED clearance in Afghanistan. Stephanie Draper, CEO at Bond, the UK network for NGOs, said: “The UK is turning its back on the people of Afghanistan, who are facing a worsening humanitarian crisis. “Cuts to programs in the country mean the government has abandoned women and girls at a time when their rights are deteriorating. “The government must deliver on its commitment to the Afghan people by reversing cuts to programs in the country.” Preet Kaur Gill, Labour’s shadow cabinet minister for international development, said: “This report paints a stark vision for the future for Afghanistan’s people, and Britain’s waning influence in the world. “Today famine looms over the country, while millions of women are denied their basic rights. It is farcical and a betrayal of the Afghans who supported the allied mission that this government is cutting lifesaving support for them in order to prop up its failing asylum system.”