Agricultural officials told a news conference that the wheat, much of it donated by India to the former US-backed Kabul government, is used to pay 40,000 employees, who each receive 10 kg of wheat a day for five hours of work.
They added that the programme, which is mostly used to pay wages in Kabul’s public works sector, would be expanded across the country.
“We are ready to help our people as much as we can,” said Fazil Bari Fadli, Deputy Minister of Agriculture for Administrative and Financial Affairs.
According to Fazli, the Taliban government has already received an additional 18 tons of wheat from Pakistan with a promise to send another 37 tons, while it is negotiating 55 tons with India.
“We have a lot of plans for the food-for-work program,” he said.
It was not clear how much wheat would be distributed as direct humanitarian aid and what would be used to pay staff.
On Tuesday, the United Nations asked donors for $4.4 billion in humanitarian aid for Afghanistan in 2022, saying that the money was “necessary to fill a gap” in order to ensure the country’s future.
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