The Chinese government on Tuesday delivered 3,012 tons of rice and 816 tons of flour to the State Ministry for Natural Disaster Management (SMNDM) for distribution to drought and floods-affected families in Afghanistan.

Najib Aqa Fahim, State Minister for Natural Disasters Management, received the aid at a ceremony here. He said the donated rice and flour would be distributed among calamity-hit families within a month in 20 provinces of the country.
He identified the affected provinces as Jawzjan, Badghis, Faryab, Ghor, Uruzgan, Zabul, Kandahar, Helmand, Samangan, Balkh, Baghlan, Herat, Farah, Kunduz, Nuristan, Takhar, MaidanWardak, Paktia, Sar-i-Pul and Nimroz.
The minister said 21 provinces were hard hit by drought and around 1.4 million individuals needed food, potable water while 3.3 million livestock in need of pasture.
He assured that 3.3 million needy people would get assistance during the ongoing year.
Fahim highly appreciated the Chinese government continued assistance and also urged the international community to support Afghanistan in dealing with natural disasters.
Meanwhile, Liu Jingson, Chinese envoy to Afghanistan, said his country was committed to continued aid and cooperation with Afghanistan and added today’s assistance showed friendship between the two countries.
Liu said his country would play its role in advancing the Afghanistan peace process. He said Afghanistan was a neighbor of China and it needed assistance. His country has developed a policy under which Beijing would continuously provide assistance to Kabul.