New Delhi: India has sent the next batch of humanitarian aid containing five lakh doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to Afghanistan. This information was given by the Ministry of External Affairs on Saturday. The ministry said in a statement that humanitarian aid has been handed over to the Indira Gandhi Hospital in Kabul.
An additional five lakh doses will be supplied in the coming weeks, the release said. Notably, India has already committed to providing humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people including food grains, one million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and essential life-saving medicines.
#WATCH | India has supplied the next batch of humanitarian assistance consisting of 500,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, Covaxin to Afghanistan. pic.twitter.com/agzcqitRqf
– ANI (@ANI) January 1, 2022
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Significantly, earlier last month, India had provided 1.6 tonnes of medical aid to Afghanistan through the World Health Organization (WHO).
The Ministry of External Affairs said, ‘In the coming weeks, we will work on the supply of wheat and the remaining medical assistance. In this regard, we are in touch with UN agencies and others to finalize the mode of transport.
It is noteworthy that the Taliban captured Kabul on 15 August and since then Afghanistan is facing a deepening economic, humanitarian and security crisis. The combination of suspension of foreign aid, confiscation of Afghan government assets and international sanctions on the Taliban has plunged the country, already suffering from high poverty levels, into an absolute economic crisis.