Russia will provide humanitarian aid to Afghanistan in the coming days, a senior Russian official said on Monday, as regional powers prepare to discuss the crisis in the country in a new round of talks next month.
The remarks by Zamir Kabulov, President Vladimir Putin’s special representative on Afghanistan, came days after Russia hosted the Taliban’s international talks, calling for a UN-sponsored donor conference to support the country.
“At the orders of the president, another humanitarian operation is being prepared to provide emergency assistance to the Afghan people,” Kabulov told a news conference. “I can’t announce an exact date (for delivery)… but I think it will be in the next few days.”
The Taliban’s occupation of Afghanistan in August has prompted donors to withdraw billions of dollars in aid for the aid-dependent country. The UN food agency is warning that millions of Afghans, including children, could starve to death if immediate action is not taken.
Moscow is eager to increase its influence in Afghanistan after the United States pulls out troops, but is concerned that instability could spread to the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, a region of strategic importance to Russia.
Kabulov said Pakistan expected a meeting of an “expanded troika” on Afghanistan – which includes Russia, China, the United States and Pakistan – in Islamabad in the second half of November. He said he expected the United States, absent from the talks in Moscow, to participate this time.