Afghanistan: 3 Russian military aircraft deliver 36 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Kabul

As many as three Russian military aircraft delivered 36 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Kabul, according to a statement from the Russian ministry's press service on Saturday. The official statement informed, "Upon an order of Russian Defense Minister Army General Sergey Shoigu to organise a cargo haul (to Afghanistan), three planes of the Russian military and transport aviation were dispatched and they took off as soon as possible from the Chkalovsk airfield," Russian state-owned TASS reported.

The flights that were organised on the instructions of Russian President Vladimir Putin, carrying humanitarian aid, landed at the Kabul airport to evacuate more than 300 Russians from Afghanistan.

The Kremlin is also planning to send nearly 900 Afghan nationals studying at Russian universities back to their homelands, the Russian Ambassador to Kabul, Dmitry Zhirnov, said on Thursday. This is the fourth evacuation group organised by Russian authorities, and the aircraft is to fly Russian and Kyrgyz citizens to Moscow.

It is worth mentioning here that since the Taliban took control of Kabul, Russia has evacuated 770 Russian, Belarusian, Kyrgyz, Armenian, Ukrainian, and Afghan nationals from the country and sent more than 70 tonnes of humanitarian cargo, including food and medication, said the defence ministry.

Situation in Afghanistan

The US administration led by then-President Donald Trump signed an agreement with the Taliban in Qatar's capital of Doha on 29 February 2020. According to the deal, the US and coalition members decided to withdraw their military forces from Afghanistan by the end of August 2021. As part of the agreement, the Taliban promised that they would not use Afghan land to carry out any terror activities posing any kind of threat to the US or its allies.

Ever since the US military left Kabul, the Taliban has taken control of the country, and on September 7, the hardline Islamist group announced a new government consisting of only the members of the Taliban. Since the formation of the new regime, the Taliban has been seeking to gain support from international communities and to build a good relationship with the US. A war-ravaged Afghanistan is currently facing a massive financial crisis and countries like Russia, Qatar, UAE, Bahrain, and India are sending humanitarian assistance.

(Image: AP)