Russia to send over 100 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Kabul; 1st shipment to arrive today

Russia will deliver the first shipment of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan on Thursday, Nov 18, which includes 36 tonnes of food, medicine, and essential goods, said Russia’s Ambassador to Afghanistan Dmitry Zhirnov. The country will also repatriate Afghan nationals with Russian citizenship on dedicated flights in November. "Now we are preparing special flights to that country [Afghanistan] to deliver large humanitarian aid, foodstuffs. On these special flights in November, we will also repatriate Afghan nationals with Russian citizenship," the Russian Ambassador to Afghanistan said in an interview with the Rossiya-1 TV Channel, and Izvestia newspaper separately on Nov. 18. 

"The special flights carried out by the Russian Defense Ministry will deliver to Afghanistan a large consignment of humanitarian cargo prepared by the Emergencies Ministry. It includes food, medicine, and essential goods. The first batch of 36 tonnes will be delivered on November 18. Then there are going to be two more shipments. Overall, over 100 tonnes of humanitarian aid will be supplied," the Russian envoy noted.

Taliban have assured equitable distribution of the international aid within the war-ravaged country suffering from critical food insecurity since the Taliban’s political take over.  Additionally, it agreed that Russia can evacuate its citizens from Afghanistan on return flights. "This is essential. The Afghan authorities understand that any mistake will seriously complicate their further work with foreign funders," Zhirnov stressed in his recent remarks. Moscow last operated the evacuation flights from Afghanistan for citizens of Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan between August 25 to 26. The Foreign Minister emphasised that the return flights would not be evacuation but "an assistance in the return to the homeland for those citizens who faced challenging conditions amid a dramatic change in Afghanistan’s military-political situation."

India asks international community to sideline partisan interests and send assistance to Afghanistan

India's Ambassador to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) TS Tirumurti urged the international community and countries of the subcontinent to come together, to rise above partisan interests for assistance in Afghanistan. He called for inclusive dispensation in Afghanistan which evenly represents all sections of the Afghan society. While stressing that Afghanistan has witnessed much bloodshed and violence, the Indian Ambassador to UNSC stated that more than half of its population is headed for a crisis on emergency levels of acute food shortage and urgent humanitarian assistance to meet the basic food demand in the war-ravaged country. 

"India is willing to coordinate with other stakeholders to work towards enabling the expeditious provision of much-needed assistance to the people of Afghanistan," TS Tirumurti said at the UNSC session on Wednesday. 

India has also agreed to step forward and ease Afghanistan’s worsening hunger crisis, and food insecurity by supplying 50,000 tons of wheat in order to mitigate the neighbouring country’s ongoing woes. The consignment is expected to be shipped via a route in Pakistan, an Afghan government official confirmed, according to NYTimes. On Wednesday, the security chiefs from Iran and Russia met in New Delhi, making appeals to India to send humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.