In recent news, it was announced that due to the increasing poverty, lack of food, and major upheaval in Afghanistan, China would be willing to provide aid to the new state. The formal amount of this aid is 31 million dollars, in the form of food, winter weather supplies, medicine and covid vaccines. This was announced by China's Foreign Minister this past Wednesday.
This aid is being provided in cohesion with China's previous statement regarding their commitment to providing lower income countries with COVID vaccines, for which Afghanistan was already in the priority line, pre-Taliban takeover. Additionally, the Chinese government has continuously also spoken about how the United States should follow through with providing the Afghan people with aid as well, and in fact, should be the first to do so. They claim that the US should "assume their responsibility" as well.
China has also pledged to support Afghanistan in the country's peace, reconciliation and reconstruction process. In return, the Taliban have vowed to draw a clear line with terrorism at the Chinese border or with other neighbors such as Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan as well.
6 comments:
No matter what China's political intentions are for providing money, food, vaccines, and winter supplies, it is the innocent Afghanistan civilians who benefit from the aid, less of the government. Many countries are concerned that making such an action might be interpreted as siding with the new Afghanistan government, but is making a political statement more important, or saving millions of civilians from starving and diseases more important?
It is commendable when any country comes forward and lends a helping hand during disaster. But, the problem lies when the future consequences are not considered and action is not taken now. Through the Belt and Road Initiative, China has built and reconstructed several African and Asian nations' infrastructure and brought them closer to the globalized developed world. However, that money ain't free money. They were loans or sponsorships. Those countries are now unable to pay off the debt they owe to China. Take for example Pakistan, which has reached the stage of renting the Prime Minister's residence to raise funds to pay off national debts. What is the guarantee that China would not do the same with Afghanistan?
I took a class over the summer with Prof Rahman called Global Economics where we focused on poverty throughout the world. One thing I learned during that class is that many countries provide foreign aid to other countries, however, after it is all said and done, most of that money does not make it to the people who actually need it. There are various reasons this happens and there are also reasons that are unknown as to where the money goes. For example, with foreign aid that is provided to Sub-Saharan Africa, only a few dollars are allocated to each person, however only $0.03 is usable money. This could very well be the case for the aid being discussed in this article as well. 31 million dollars sounds like a lot of money until you distribute it amongst several million people, especially with corrupt governments.
I do think that it is important for innocent Afghan people to get aid, but in agreeance with Ashleigh it is not always the easiest process. When a country gives aid to another the money is not always put to the uses that they promised the money would be used for. When there is corruption in a country there is a high chance that this money will go to the government and not the citizens that actually need it. There is no way to actually monitor where the money will go if China gives the money to the Afghanistan government which is currently run by the Taliban. This could be a large issue if they instead use this money for the military, drugs, etc. and not for food, supplies, and medicine for the citizens of Afghanistan.
In my opinion, it is very generous to offer such aid due to the recent Taliban take over in Afghanistan.
The Afghan nation is in chaos situation right now, with no government, no stable electricity, no belief in the
future. I believe that new rulers of Afghanistan will distribute this aid to Afghan families that lost their
homes, relatives, and hope. Even though the Taliban make sure the world peace in Afghanistan, bordering
countries should be ready to protect their borders and nations.
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