$266 million in US humanitarian aid to Afghanistan
The US announced on Friday an additional US$ 266 million in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, mainly for the COVID-19 response, as the withdrawal of foreign troops continues.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said : “As the US draws down troops in Afghanistan, our commitment is clear.”
He added : “We remain determined to support the peaceful and stable future that Afghans demand and deserve by using all our diplomatic and economic means and assistance”.
These funds will be allocated to provide protective equipment, shelters, health care and hygiene as well as to protect the most vulnerable, especially women and girls.
With $266 million of these funds, including $157 million released by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and $109 million released by the State Department, US humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan is more than $543 million under the 2021 budget.
The administration has yet to decide whether to evacuate Afghan translators who have cooperated with the US military and fear for their lives after foreign troops withdraw from the country.
Twenty members of Congress, both Republican and Democratic, demanded Friday in an open letter to President Joe Biden that more than 18,000 translators and their families who have applied for immigration visas to the United States be evacuated “immediately.”
“Each request takes more than 800 days to complete,” they said in the letter, while “we expect to withdraw in less than 100 days.”
No U.S. institution “has the capacity or authority to protect them in Afghanistan after our withdrawal,” they said, arguing that “it would be immoral to hold the Afghan government accountable for protecting our Afghan partners.”
Responding to a question about this, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Friday that the White House has not yet ordered the US military to evacuate these Afghans.
