The lack of development assistance in Afghanistan is making it impossible to build long-term positive change in the country. To highlight this serious problem, INTERSOS has published a Position Paper highlighting the consequences of lack of development funding (and decreasing humanitarian funding) and calling donors and their governments to re-start a level of engagement with the Authorities in the country and re-commit to targeted development support to ensure that Afghanistan’s most vulnerable populations are not left behind and change is built for the long-term.
Afghanistan is facing one of the most severe and protracted crises in the world. Today, nearly half of the population, 21.9 million people, require humanitarian assistance to meet their basic needs. While humanitarian aid remains essential to save lives, it cannot by itself address the structural challenges that have accumulated after more than four decades of conflict.
Since 2021, the near-total suspension of development assistance has profoundly reshaped the international response. What was once a combined humanitarian-development effort has become overwhelmingly emergency-driven. This imbalance is now one of the central obstacles to long-term recovery.
SUPPORTING RECOVERY IN AFGHANISTAN
THE ROLE OF PRINCIPLED DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT AND ENGAGEMENT
When emergency aid becomes the system
Humanitarian assistance is designed to respond to acute crises. It is not meant to sustain entire public systems year after year. Yet in Afghanistan, humanitarian funding is increasingly being used to keep essential services afloat, including primary healthcare and nutrition support without the possibility to build long-term change.
At the same time, humanitarian funding is decreasing. The 2025 funding cuts, which began with the closure of USAID programmes and were followed by reductions from other donors, have further strained an already fragile response system. As a result, organisations are currently expected to address chronic and predictable needs through short-term humanitarian projects.
This model is neither efficient nor sustainable. Without development investment, humanitarian gains remain fragile and reversible, requiring repeated interventions to meet the same needs each year.
Development engagement without political recognition
Restoring development support does not require political recognition of the de facto authorities. Targeted and carefully calibrated engagement can focus exclusively on the technical aspects of the response.
In practice, this means channeling funding through trusted humanitarian and development partners, while limiting engagement with state structures to technical coordination necessary for service continuity. Such an approach safeguards donor necessities while preventing further deterioration of critical systems.
In a context where development assistance previously underpinned much of the country’s social infrastructure, carefully designed re-engagement is essential to stabilise services that humanitarian aid alone cannot maintain.
A more coherent way forward
Afghanistan cannot remain in a permanent state of emergency. A more balanced approach is urgently needed, one that combines flexible humanitarian funding with principled, targeted development assistance.
This includes:
- Investing in early recovery and resilience interventions in sectors such as health, agriculture, food systems, water infrastructure, and the private sector;
- Expanding multi-year and flexible funding to enable longer-term planning;
- Strengthening coordination among donors, aid actors, and relevant authorities;
- Supporting private sector recovery and local markets as drivers of economic stability.
Political decisions require political solutions
Afghanistan’s current situation is shaped by political decisions taken both internationally and within the country. For this reason, the path forward is also political. Sustained and principled engagement, grounded in accountability and focused on the needs of the Afghan population, is necessary to prevent further deterioration and break the cycle of dependency.
Humanitarian aid saves lives. Development assistance builds the conditions for those lives to be sustained with dignity. Afghanistan needs both.
Download the Policy Paper to consult the full list of recommendations.