China has announced that it is offering at least $31m worth of emergency aid, including coronavirus vaccines to Afghanistan as the Taliban revealed the members of its new government.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced on Wednesday during a meeting with foreign ministers of Afghanistan’s neighboring countries, including Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.
Wang stated that the emergency help will include grain, winter supplies, medications, and three million doses of the COVID-19 vaccination.
The Taliban has recently stated that China will be its "primary partner" in reconstructing the war-torn country.
In his statements on Wednesday, Wang was cited by the state news agency Xinhua as stating that Afghanistan is "at a crossroads" due to humanitarian issues like the COVID-19 outbreak.
“Some international forces may also use political, economic and financial means to create new troubles for Afghanistan,” Chinese News Agency Xinhua reported.
China shares a land border with Afghanistan, where the Taliban established a new administration on Tuesday that includes people on the US wanted list.
Wang stated that, in addition to humanitarian and health measures, China can assist Afghanistan in maintaining its port gates and managing refugees and migrants, as well as strengthening anti-terrorism and anti-narcotics cooperation.
Wang also stated at the virtual conference that the US and its allies had a duty to assist Afghanistan following the removal of American troops.
“The common view of the international community is that the end of military intervention by the United States and its allies should be the beginning of them assuming their responsibilities,” Wang said.
“They are more obligated than any other country to provide economic, livelihood and humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people, and help Afghanistan maintain stability, prevent chaos and move toward sound development on the premise of respecting the sovereignty and independence of Afghanistan,” he added.
Wang also urged the Taliban to break connections with any “extremist forces” in the nation and crackdown on them.
To guarantee regional security and stability, “all parties should increase intelligence-sharing and border-control cooperation to detect and remove terrorist groups that have snuck in from Afghanistan,” Wang added.
A recent UNDP report shows Afghanistan is on a brink of a humanitarian collapse and could see a surge in poverty up to 97% by the mid of 2022.
