The U.S. will provide the people of Afghanistan with over $308 million in humanitarian aid, as well as an additional one million COVID-19 vaccine doses, CNN reports, per the National Security Council.
Independent humanitarian groups will disseminate the aid, which will "help provide lifesaving protection and shelter, essential health care, winterization assistance, emergency food aid, water, sanitation, and hygiene services," said NSC spokesperson Emily Horne in a Tuesday statement. The vaccine donation will run through COVAX, the World Health Organization's global vaccine sharing initiative.
This latest administration committment brings total U.S. humanitarian aid to Afghanistan to over $780 million since October 2021, The Associated Press and CNN report. The country has fiercely struggled with both the pandemic and widespread hunger ever since the U.S. exit and Taliban takeover in August, per NBC News. Including those newly-pledged, the U.S. will have sent a total of 4.3 million vaccine doses to Afghanistan, AP writes.
"The United States is committed to supporting the Afghan people and we continue to consider all options available to us," Horne added in her statement. "We stand with the people of Afghanistan."