[{"bbox": [157, 153, 1074, 385], "category": "Text", "text": "The Action has been developed in close coordination with EU Member States, in a Team Europe spirit. In doing so, lessons learnt from past aid - including in relation to the basic needs actions adopted in December 2021 - have been factored in the formulation of the Action. The Action is also informed by ongoing analyses, including those conducted with EU Member States, Norway and Switzerland, in a Team Europe spirit. There will be close consultation with EU Member States on monitoring and analysing the overall developments, especially on the sensitive issue of engaging with the de facto authorities at technical level or of possibly providing technical assistance to the Central Bank."}, {"bbox": [157, 396, 1074, 484], "category": "Text", "text": "When identifying interventions, the EU Delegation will use as reference some of the building blocks of the mid-term strategy that the international community will be developing in the second half of 2022, under the leadership of UNAMA."}, {"bbox": [146, 526, 345, 552], "category": "Section-header", "text": "# 2 RATIONALE"}, {"bbox": [146, 568, 294, 595], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 2.1 Context"}, {"bbox": [146, 610, 235, 637], "category": "Section-header", "text": "### General"}, {"bbox": [146, 650, 1084, 824], "category": "Text", "text": "Afghanistan has been facing an uncertain period since the collapse of the Islamic Republic on 15 August 2021. While a complete socio-economic collapse has been avoided, the country has witnessed one of the greatest economic contractions in modern history. After an initial period of consolidation, political instability has increased over recent months, with different armed opposition groups and terrorist organisations attacking Taliban fighters and minorities throughout the country."}, {"bbox": [146, 836, 1084, 1155], "category": "Text", "text": "In the months after the Taliban takeover, the humanitarian response was scaled up significantly, with a focus on life-saving operations and covering approximately 35% of identified needs. It nevertheless became clear that **humanitarian assistance** is insufficient to sustainably stabilise the country and maintain the wellbeing and livelihoods of its population: deteriorating infrastructure and the effects of climate change are further threatening the access to basic services. Consistent poverty without economic growth has forced large parts of the population to revert to increasingly desperate coping mechanisms, including early child-marriage and child labour. It is also leading to an increase in crime. A strong advocacy and mobilisation is therefore needed for continued support to basic services, in particular in the economic and health sectors. In parallel, the aim of the international community has therefore been to safeguard and maintain functioning systems for the delivery of basic services and livelihoods."}, {"bbox": [146, 1166, 1084, 1544], "category": "Text", "text": "The World Bank (WB) and stakeholders of the WB-managed Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF) in a Ministerial meeting in the margins of the IMF and WB Group's 2022 Spring Meetings highlighted the need to continue funding the sectors of livelihoods, agriculture and healthcare. At the same time, long term support to the current **basic needs approach** (consisting of recurrent costs without exit strategy) is not financially sustainable for the international community and maintains the country in a state of dependency. Many international partners acknowledge that there is an increasing urgency to explore solutions to Afghanistan's liquidity crisis, as a collapse of the Afghan economy collapse will provoke an even more massive humanitarian crisis. While the political environment in Afghanistan is far from being conducive for more long-term investment, discussion are taking place at technical level among donors on what it would take for the international community to eventually move away from the basic needs a approach to a more long term and **sustainable economic recovery** that would sustain the fast-growing Afghan population."}, {"bbox": [1069, 1641, 1082, 1663], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "5"}]