New Delhi: India’s wheat donation to Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover in August 2021 reached a record 47,500 MT this month, helping millions living in the remote provinces of Herat, Kandahar and others under extremely poor conditions, with the economy collapsing. India has been sending wheat to Afghanistan through land borders with Pakistan as well as through Iran’s Chabahar Port.
According to official sources, in view of the deteriorating humanitarian situation and urgent appeals by the UN agencies, India continues to supply humanitarian assistance, including medical and food aid, to the Afghan people. The government has partnered with the United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP) for the distribution of wheat within Afghanistan.
So far, India has supplied a total of 47,500 MTs of wheat assistance to UNWFP centres in Afghanistan. The recent ongoing shipments are being sent through Chabahar Port and being handed over to UNWFP at Herat in Afghanistan, sources said.
“For the first half of this year, 16 million people in Afghanistan received life-saving food from WFP. We are grateful for generous donors like India who make that happen,” UNWFP said in X (formerly Twitter).
In 2021, India sent wheat and other essential items to Afghanistan for the first time by collaborating with Pakistan. India sent around 25,000 MT of wheat via Pakistan, which was then under the rule of former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Although India has not yet recognised the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan, New Delhi did reopen its embassy in Kabul in June 2022. The embassy has been primarily focussing on the distribution of humanitarian aid in that country.
Apart from the economic misery due to deteriorating security conditions there, Afghanistan is also facing the wrath of flash floods that has adversely impacted the country’s local farming communities.