Two South Asian countries provide humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, where a strong earthquake has killed more than 1,000 people.
India and Pakistan have sent humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, where one strong earthquake killed more than 1,000 people.
India said it had sent a technical team to the Afghan capital, Kabul, to coordinate the delivery of aid, while trucks of food and other essentials came from Pakistan, which also concussion has been felt in some areas.
India’s foreign ministry on Thursday said it had sent 27 tonnes of supplies on two flights to be handed over to international aid agencies and the Afghan Red Crescent Association.
The ministry said its team had been deployed to its embassy in Kabul, which has been vacant since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August.
The ministry statement did not give details about the technical team, saying it was sent to “closely monitor and coordinate the efforts of stakeholders to effectively provide humanitarian assistance” as part of the mission. of “our continued engagement with the people of Afghanistan”.
“As always, India stands in solidarity with the people of Afghanistan, with whom we share centuries of ties and remains unwaveringly committed to providing immediate relief assistance to the people of Afghanistan,” the statement said. father said.
Images of the relief effort were accompanied by a tweet from India’s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar: “India, a real first responder.”
Residents in the hardest-hit districts of Paktika province in the northeast appear to be trying to survive the quake, while the Taliban-led government and international aid community are struggling to help. help.
Pakistan said it has sent relief goods to people affected by the earthquake in Afghanistan.
“The shipment arranged by the National Disaster Management Authority included family tents, tarpaulins, blankets and emergency medicine,” announced the Pakistani prime minister’s office and shared with Al Jazeera on Thursday.
“Pakistan has secured all possible assistance to ameliorate the suffering of Afghan families affected by the magnitude 6.1 earthquake,” it said.
The disaster is a major test for the Taliban government, which has been isolated and shunned by many countries because of human rights concerns and cut off from much direct international support because of government sanctions. Western government.
India no longer has a diplomatic presence in Kabul after it evacuated staff before the US withdrawal from Afghanistan last year.
However, it has sent 20,000 tons of wheat, 13 tons of medicine, 500,000 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine and winter clothing to Afghanistan to help with shortages there, according to the State Department.
Indian officials held talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan for the first time earlier this month to discuss the distribution of humanitarian assistance. Indian envoys had earlier met representatives of the Taliban in Doha, the capital of Qatar, where the force has offices.
India said it would follow the lead of the United Nations in deciding whether to recognize the Taliban government.
Much of South Asia is seismically active because a tectonic plate known as the Indian plate is pushing northward into the Eurasian plate.
In 2015, an earthquake struck remote northeastern Afghanistan, killing hundreds in Afghanistan and neighboring northern Pakistan.
