US announced additional $144 mn aid for people of Afghanistan, not Taliban: Antony Blinken

The United States will be providing $144 million in humanitarian assistance to people in Afghanistan who are presently facing a humanitarian crisis, announced US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday, 28 October. In an official statement, the top US diplomat noted that the latest assistance has brought the total US humanitarian aid in Afghanistan to nearly $474 million in 2021 which is also the “largest” amount that any other nation has allocated for the South Asian country.   

While Afghanistan is presently under Taliban-led government, Blinken said that the aid will go directly to humanitarian organisations such as “the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), International Organization for Migration (IOM), the World Health Organization (WHO), and other international and non-governmental organizations following extensive vetting and monitoring.”

US Secretary of State announced, “As part of our enduring commitment to the people of Afghanistan, the United States announced today nearly $144 million in humanitarian assistance to those affected by the ongoing humanitarian crisis.”

“This assistance brings the total U.S. humanitarian aid in Afghanistan and for Afghan refugees in the region to nearly $474 million in 2021, the largest amount of assistance from any nation,” he added.

Aid will help Afghans ‘not the Taliban’: Blinken

Blinken said that the US-announced aid for the war-ravaged country would be helping over 18 million vulnerable Afghans in need including the ones sheltered in foreign nations as a result of evacuation missions. The fund would help US partners to provide essential protection, food security support, health care among other assistance to the Afghans especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic and winter approaching. The US Secretary of State also made it clear that the money will help the people of Afghanistan and “not the Taliban”.  

“To be clear, this humanitarian assistance will benefit the people of Afghanistan and not the Taliban, whom we will continue to hold accountable for the commitments they have made,” Blinken said. 

Meanwhile, four different US intelligence agencies, which offered nearly two dozen assessments of Afghanistan’s situation, failed to predict the imminent fall of Kabul to the Taliban, reported The Wall Street Journal, citing classified materials it obtained. While the analysis produced by the agencies hinted towards the Taliban gaining ground in the war-ravaged nation against the then Afghan government, they did not think it would happen as swiftly as the situation unravelled in August.   

(IMAGE: AP)