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Taliban say grateful to Russia for humanitarian aid delivery

The aid delivered on November 18 includes flour, vegetable oil and blankets

CAIRO, November 18. /TASS/. The Taliban radical militant group that came to power in Afghanistan is grateful to Russia for the delivery of 36 tonnes of humanitarian aid to the country, Taliban Spokesman, Deputy Information and Culture Minister in the interim Afghan government Zabihullah Mujahid wrote on his Twitter on Thursday.

"This morning, the first batch of humanitarian cargo arrived in Afghanistan from Russia. The aid weighing 36 tonnes and delivered by three planes includes flour, vegetable oil and blankets. When receiving the cargo, we thanked Russia and Russians on behalf of the Afghan people and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan [the name of the state used by the Taliban]. We call on other countries of the world to take similar steps," the spokesman said.

A total of 108 tonnes of Russian humanitarian aid will be delivered to Afghanistan in three stages. In the coming days, two more batches of humanitarian cargo will arrive in the country, the spokesman said.

The Taliban radical militant group (outlawed in Russia) launched a large-scale offensive to seize control of Afghanistan after the United States declared its intention in the spring of this year to withdraw its troops from the country.

On August 15, the Taliban entered Kabul without encountering any resistance while Afghan President Ashraf Ghani stepped down and fled the country. The Taliban declared on September 6 that they had established control of the entire Afghan territory and on September 7 they announced an interim government in Afghanistan that has not been recognized by any country so far.

A report published by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the UN World Food Program (WFP) in late October indicates that more than half the population of Afghanistan (22.8 million out of about 39 million, according to the World Bank data) will face crisis or emergency levels of acute food insecurity from November 2021 to March 2022.

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