Blinken announces $64m in new Afghanistan aid, calls evacuations ‘extraordinary effort’
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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced $64 million in aid to Afghanistan’s civilian population on Monday while vowing at a committee hearing held by the House Foreign Affairs panel to continue working to extract Americans and others from the country.
In prepared remarks, Mr Blinken claimed that the contribution from USAID would “meet critical health and nutrition needs, address the protection concerns of women, children, and minorities, to help more children – including girls – go back to school.”
USAID had initially announced the aid just hours earlier in a news release, but Mr Blinken was the first Biden administration official to speak publicly on the news.
The funding “will flow through independent organizations, such as UN agencies and NGOs, and provide life-saving support directly to Afghans facing the compounding effects of insecurity, conflict, recurring natural disasters, and the COVID-19 pandemic”, added the agency in its statement.
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