The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate praised Saudi aid to Afghanistan.
Abdul Qahar Balkhi, a ministry spokesman, tweeted that he hoped the aid would expand relations between Kabul and Riyadh.
“Saudi Arabia has always stood by the people of Afghanistan in difficult situations. We hope this will further strengthen relations between the two countries,” he tweeted.
Saudi Arabia has provided a grant worth $30 million to support the Afghanistan Humanitarian Trust Fund, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Thursday.
The grant to the fund, which works under the umbrella of the Islamic Development Bank in coordination with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), “falls within the context of the Kingdom’s humanitarian and relief efforts to brotherly and friendly nations,” a news report said.
“We are trying to create and enhance Afghanistan’s economic infrastructure in the long and medium-term to contribute to the country’s economic self-sufficiency,” said Abdul Latif Nazari, Deputy Minister of Economy.
Meanwhile, some Kabul residents criticized the way the international community is distributing aid to Afghanistan.
“No one has helped us, the community elders are distributing it to their own people,” a child laborer said.
“The process of distributing aid is not transparent, it does not reach the deserving and needy people,” said a resident of Kabul said.
But how should aid be spent?
“If assistance is provided through the government and through development projects, it can be both effective in the field of strategic goods and will create job opportunities,” said Abdul Nasir Rashtia, an economist.
“If this fund is utilized properly in short-term projects, it may also create jobs and induce economic turnaround, and it can undoubtedly be beneficial in lowering the level of poverty in society,” another economist, Shakir Yaghoubi, said.
The assistance comes as the United Nations recently stated that 90 percent of Afghanistan’s population is living under the poverty line
