New approach paper – UK aid to Afghanistan
21 Jun 2022
ICAI has today published its approach for its forthcoming review of UK aid to Afghanistan.
The Taliban takeover in August 2021 ended a 20-year international military and civilian intervention. But the country is now in a state of near collapse, after the withdrawal of international military and financial support, economic sanctions and the freezing of Afghan state assets.
The UK has been a major provider of development and humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan since the beginning of the international military intervention in 2001. However, the UK’s objectives and chosen methods for delivering aid to Afghanistan have evolved over the years.
While the UK government committed to “continuing to support stability in Afghanistan, as part of a wider coalition” in its February 2021 Integrated review, development assistance to Afghanistan has been halted since the Taliban’s de facto control.
This country portfolio review will examine the relevance, coherence and effectiveness of the UK’s aid investment in Afghanistan from 2014. An additional non-evaluative chapter will cover UK aid spending on humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan from August 2021 to present.