India on Saturday sent the second tranche of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan since its takeover by the Taliban in August last year. This tranche includes 5 lakh doses of Bharat Biotech’s COVID-19 jab – Covaxin.
Humanitarian aid was sent to Kabul by a Great Air flight from Iran.
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in a tweet that the Kovid-19 vaccines were handed over to the Indira Gandhi Hospital in Kabul.
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Afghanistan’s envoy to India, Fareed Mamundje, said in a tweet: “An additional 500,000 doses will be supplied in the coming weeks. Thank you India for providing life-saving gifts to the Afghan people on the first day of 2022! I look forward to this year.” Peaceful and prosperous for all Afghans.”
“An additional 500,000 doses will be supplied in the coming weeks,” a press statement by the foreign ministry said.
Today, India supplied the next batch of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, including 500,000 doses of the COVID Vaccine (COVAXIN).
They were handed over to Indira Gandhi Hospital in Kabul.
Press release https://t.co/Ti7L1BdewJ pic.twitter.com/XFpII0I8jC
— Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) 1 January 2022
Last year, India announced that it would send 50,000 tonnes of wheat and medicines to Afghanistan by road via Pakistan. India and Pakistan are still in the process of finalizing the mode of transport.
India provided 1.6 tonnes of medical aid to Afghanistan through the World Health Organization (WHO) in December 2021.
On 10 November, India hosted a regional dialogue on Afghanistan which was attended by national security advisers from Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Like many other countries, India has not yet recognized the Taliban as the new government in Afghanistan.