Turkmenistan plans to send humanitarian aid to Afghanistan as the death toll from an earthquake there increased to more than 2,200, Afghanistan’s Taliban government said on Thursday.
Rashid Muradov, Turkmenistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, said “urgent humanitarian assistance – including clothing, tents, medicine, and food – will soon be delivered” to Afghanistan, the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on X.
Muradov announced Turkmenistan’s aid plans in a telephone conversation with Maulvi Amir Khan Muttaqi, Afghanistan’s foreign minister. The Afghan minister thanked Muradov and “assured that the mentioned aid will be delivered to the needy people in a timely manner,” his office said.
Some international donors have previously expressed concern that the Taliban diverts aid for its own purposes rather than delivering it to those most in need. The U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction recently released a report that it said looked into how “the Taliban diverts U.S. aid dollars intended for needy Afghans and the culture of denial within the international aid community, which thwarts effective measures to mitigate that diversion.”
A 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck eastern areas in Afghanistan on Sunday, and rescue efforts have been hampered by a lack of infrastructure and mountainous terrain. Kunar was the hardest hit province, and parts of Nangarhar and Laghman provinces were also affected.
The Afghan Red Crescent Society said on Thursday that at least 2,205 people died and 3,640 others were injured.
“Many people are trapped under the rubble of destroyed homes and rescue efforts are ongoing,” the society said.
Like Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan shares a border with Afghanistan and has said it is ready to help with quake relief. Central Asian countries have sent aid to Afghanistan in the past as they build ties with the Taliban and work on diversifying trade routes.
Security concerns remain. Tajik border guards and Taliban fighters exchanged fire in an area along the Tajik-Afghan border on Aug. 24, though the two sides later met in an effort to reduce tensions.
