Aid To Taliban-Controlled Afghanistan: US Over $3 Billion & China $64 Million
Yue Xiaoyong, China's special envoy for Afghanistan, announced that Beijing has provided about $64 million in aid to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan in three years.
Yue Xiaoyong, China's special envoy for Afghanistan, announced that Beijing has provided about $64 million in aid to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan in three years.
According to SIGAR, the United States has also sent more than $3 billion to Afghanistan during this period.
In an interview with the Beijing Club, China's special envoy for Afghanistan, said that his country has provided 470 million yuan ($64 million) in aid to Afghanistan in the past three years.
Although China does not recognise the Taliban government, it has appointed an ambassador in Kabul and accepted the Taliban's ambassador to Beijing.
After the withdrawal of US forces and the return of the Taliban to power, China has also tried to get involved in economic projects and contracts for mining, oil and gas in Afghanistan.
The amount of aid from China and the United States to Afghanistan reflects the two countries' approach to a country controlled by the Taliban.
US aid to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan in the past three years has been about 47 times higher than China's. The United States does not recognise the Taliban, but it has continued to send aid to Kabul after its withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The United States has collectively allocated $21.6 billion over the past three years to help Afghanistan and Afghan refugees, according to a SIGAR report released in October.
According to SIGAR, $3.33 billion of this money has been sent to Afghanistan under the guise of humanitarian and development aid.
US aid to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan has always faced criticism. Some critics of the Taliban, as well as the US special inspector, say that the Taliban may have had access to and benefited from the money flowing into Afghanistan.
However, the United Nations, which coordinates the aid, claims that the money is not being provided to the Taliban.
Prior to May last year, the Taliban-controlled Central Bank announced the arrival of $40 million packages in Kabul twice a week.
Following mounting criticism, the Taliban stopped making the aid public but at the same time, sources told Afghanistan International that $40 million packages were still arriving in Kabul.
