China has promised Afghanistan humanitarian aid worth 200 million yuan, the equivalent of $30.7 million, Beijing’s foreign ministry said on Thursday.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi made the pledge at a video conference with his counterparts from countries neighbouring Afghanistan.
China said it would provide emergency aid to fight the Coronavirus pandemic and was planning an initial delivery of three million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Afghanistan.
Afghanistan continued to face serious challenges such as humanitarian issues, people’s general well-being and the pandemic, Wang Yi said at Thursday’s conference, according to the ministry.
The foreign ministers of Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and the deputy foreign minister of Turkmenistan joined Wang at the video conference.
The Chinese minister said the neighbour nations wanted to help Afghanistan to come out of chaos, but he also called on the United States to meet its responsibilities after its withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Wang said the U.S. was more obliged than any other country to provide economic and humanitarian aid to support the Afghans, maintain stability and avoid chaos.
Governments around the world were weighing up whether to recognise the Taliban and reinstate aid on which the country depends.
Most aid was frozen after the Taliban took over the country.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) made an urgent appeal for more than 600 million dollars in aid for Afghanistan this week, saying basic services were collapsing and life-saving aid was about to run out.
dpa
