Kazakhstan once again demonstrates to the world community its commitment to the ideas of the UN and its readiness to provide humanitarian assistance to nations in need of support from caring countries.
In accordance with the protocol of the Commission on International Charity of the Republic of Kazakhstan to victims of natural disasters, nine wagons with humanitarian cargo were sent to Afghan people affected by the earthquake and floods. These are tents, beds, bedding, dishes, clothing and food. All of this will soon be distributed throughout Afghanistan by UN structural units.
Kazakh diplomats handed over humanitarian aid to representatives of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) on the last day of summer. The event took place at the United Nations logistics center located in the Uzbek city of Termez.
The handover ceremony was attended by Deputy UN Special Representative for Afghanistan Ramiz Alakbarov, Deputy UN High Commissioner for Refugees Yumiko Tashima, representatives of the World Food Program Organization (WFP), as well as the leadership of the Surkhandarya region and employees of the diplomatic missions of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in Afghanistan.
Ramiz Alakbarov expressed gratitude to the Kazakh side for providing consistent and systematic assistance to the Afghan people. He stressed Kazakhstan’s unique contribution to mitigating the negative consequences for the Afghan people under the current circumstances and the challenging socio-political and social situation in general.
“Against this background, the support provided by the Government of Kazakhstan plays a significant role in preventing a humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan, since most of the flour products come from there,” he stressed.
The close regional cooperation of Kazakhstan with Uzbekistan allowed to organize the delivery of cargo in a fairly short time. According to Ramiz Alakbarov, more than 60% of the humanitarian aid of the international community is imported into Afghanistan through the terminal in Termez.
In turn, Yumiko Tashima thanked the Kazakh people for their timely support and expressed desire in maintaining cordial and partnership ties with Kazakhstan.
Recently, on 29 August, speaking at the UN Security Council, Martin Griffiths, the UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, urged the international community to help Afghanistan, recalling the nation’s challenging circumstances and the peculiarities associated with the Taliban’s takeover of power Political shocks led to the suspension of large-scale humanitarian aid for almost a year.
In 2021, Afghanistan suffered from the worst drought in the last 30 years. About 19 million Afghans today face acute food shortages, 3 million children are starving.
Even greater natural disasters hit Afghanistan this summer. Thousands of Afghan citizens were affected by the devastating earthquake in the southeastern provinces on 22 June, as well as by massive floods in the east of the country in July. Houses and infrastructure facilities were destroyed, crops and pastures were damaged.
Kazakhstan, never indifferent to the troubles of others, was one of the first to take steps to implement its humanitarian mission. As for this particular country, exactly a year ago at the SCO Summit in Dushanbe, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev stressed that “we are ready to provide all possible relief to solve the urgent humanitarian and economic problems faced by Afghanistan.” In October, at a meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of State, the President said that “Kazakhstan shares the position of the UN, and the difficult humanitarian situation in this country should be the focus of the entire international community.”
The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan has become one of the topics of discussion at the 77th session of the UN General Assembly. The whole world should continue to provide humanitarian assistance to the long-suffering Afghan people. ///nCa, 23 September 2022