Pakistan sends first of the two C-130 planes in relief assistance to flood-hit Afghanistan……….(By;Asghar Ali Mubarak)…..
Islamabad; …..Pakistan sends first of the two C-130 planes in relief assistance for flood affected people of Afghanistan to Mazar-e-Sharif .Pakistan today dispatched C-130 plane carrying relief assistance for the Afghan people affected by recent floods. The shipment contained 7 tons of food and shelter supplies. The relief assistance has been sent at the direction of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to cope with the humanitarian situation caused by flash floods in ten Afghan provinces due to heavy rains.
Senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NDMA and Ambassador of Pakistan to Afghanistan Mansoor Ahmad Khan saw off the first C-130 aircraft carrying this humanitarian assistance from Noor Khan airbase Islamabad. At Mazar e Sharif, chargé d’affaires of Pakistan Embassy handed over the consignment to Afghan disaster relief organizations. The second flight will be arranged in next couple of days. It may be recalled that recently flash floods in ten Afghan provinces including in Kandahar, Helmand, Herat, Badakhshan, Takhar, Parwan, Kunduz, Maidan Wardak, Baghlan, Faryab and Jawzjan resulted in loss of many lives and destruction of homes and properties. The relief assistance sent by Pakistan at this hour of need is reflective of the importance Pakistan attaches to the wellbeing of Afghan brethren. More over he first consignment of relief goods, on the directions of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, for flood-affected Afghan civilians reached the land-locked country through a special C -130 flight of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) on Sunday.The relief assistance comprising family tentage and rations landed in Mazar e Sharif.Heavy rain and flooding have killed at least 160 people, destroyed hundreds of homes and damaged crops in Afghanistan, which is already facing a humanitarian crisis after the takeover of Taliban forces in August last year.The Taliban government, struggling to cope with the disaster that has affected more than a third of its provinces, will approach international relief organisations for help, officials said.The rain and flooding was particularly severe in the western provinces of Badghis and Faryab and the northern province of Baghlan. Afghanistan has been suffering from drought in recent years, made worse by climate change, with low crop yields raising fears of serious food shortages. The weather has exacerbated problems of poverty caused by decades of war and then a drop in foreign aid and the freezing of assets abroad after the Taliban took over, and US-led forces withdrew, in August.Hassibullah Shekhani, head of communications and information at Afghanistan’s National Disaster Management Authority said 500 houses were destroyed, 2,000 damaged, 300 head of livestock killed and some 3,000 acres of crops damaged. He said the International Committee of the Red Cross was helping and officials would approach other international organisations for help.The international community is grappling with how to help the country of some 40 million people without benefiting the Taliban.
