Noor Jalal Jalali, the Taliban’s Minister of Public Health, has accused United Nations agencies of sending substandard humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, including expired medical supplies and low-quality food.
Speaking at a press conference in Kabul on Wednesday, 30 April, Jalali criticised both the World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for what he described as mismanaged and ineffective aid deliveries.
According to Jalali, WFP recently imported 6,750 tonnes of low-quality food products under the label “Super Cereal,” while UNDP provided 650 tuberculosis testing kits, many of which were expired or mismatched in specification compared to official documentation. He added that UNDP had acknowledged these discrepancies.
The minister further claimed that WFP had shipped 55 tonnes of premix food supplements without accounting for local storage limitations, resulting in the supplies expiring before use. “This is a clear waste of aid,” Jalali said, calling for greater transparency and accountability from humanitarian organisations.
These allegations come amid ongoing tensions between the Taliban and UN agencies, which have repeatedly accused the group of obstructing aid efforts and pressuring staff to distribute assistance according to the Taliban’s preferences.
