The Chinese government on Wednesday said that it will provide supplies worth $31 million (approximately Rs 228 crore) to Afghanistan, Xinhua news agency reported.
This will include foodgrains, vaccine stocks and medicines, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.
The minister said that China will donate 30 lakh Covid-19 vaccine doses to Afghanistan in the first batch.
Wang added that China was also willing to send additional relief material to the conflict-torn country under the emergency reserve that it set up with South Asian countries in July.
The Chinese minister said that the United States had even more responsibility to help Afghanistan, according to Reuters.
Beijing announced aid for Afghanistan a day after the Taliban unveiled an interim government.
The new ministers included Sarajuddin Haqqani, the chief of militant group Haqqani Network, who features in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s most wanted list for terrorism.
Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund, the head of Taliban’s decision-making body, was made the prime minister. He has been named on a sanctions list of the United Nations, according to Al Jazeera.
Meanwhile, China on Wednesday called for a crackdown on terrorism.
“All parties should strengthen intelligence sharing and border control cooperation to catch and eliminate terrorist groups that have sneaked in from Afghanistan,” the Chinese foreign minister said, according to Reuters.
Taliban’s return to power has triggered a humanitarian and diplomatic crisis in Afghanistan Thousands of citizens continue to make desperate attempts to escape to other countries.
The US has blocked the insurgent group’s access to Afghanistan’s reserves, most of which are held by the New York Federal Reserve, Reuters reported. The decision was made to ensure that the Taliban stood by its promises to respect women’s rights and international law.
However, experts believe that this economic leverage will be lost if China, Russia or any other country provided funds to the Taliban, reported Reuters.
On Tuesday, a journalist asked US president Joe Biden if he was worried about the Taliban receiving funds from China.
Biden said that China has a “problem” with the Taliban and he was certain that it will try to “work out an arrangement” with the insurgent group.
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