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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor

UN donor conference falls billions short of $4.4bn target to help Afghanistan

United Nations Afghanistan Taliban Sergei Lavrov United States NATO
A woman holds her sick granddaughter in the malnutrition ward of Indira Gandhi children's hospital in Kabul
A woman holds her sick granddaughter in the malnutrition ward of Indira Gandhi children's hospital in Kabul. Photograph: Hussein Malla/AP

The world’s donor drought, and growing global divisions over Afghanistan’s political direction, have been laid bare when a UN appeal for $4.4bn (£3.35bn) to help Afghanistan fell massively short, the second UN donor conference in a month to do so.

Donor countries pledged only $2.44bn towards the appeal, a senior UN official said on Thursday after a high-level pledging conference.

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