Residents question govt aid to Palestinians

MAHMOOD RAQI (Pajhwok): A number of residents of central Parwan and Kapisa provinces on Friday expressed their concerns over the Afghan government’s aid to teh Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip.

The government in Kabul announced 0.5 million dollars in aid to Gaza residents, who have been under Israeli air blitz for the last few days. Hundreds have been killed and wounded.

Parwan and Kapisa residents said there were thousands of families in Afghanistan that direly needed edible and non-edible items for survival, but their plight had been ignored.

Ahmad Shah, a resident of Jabalus Saraj district of Parwan, told Pajhwok Afghan News: “We have extremely poor people living in remote localities of the country. Why doesn’t the government extend aid to them?” he questioned.

Tamim, a resident of neighbouring Kapisa province, said: “It is good to help the needy and deserving Muslims but we are a poor country asking for international aid. We have thousands of poverty-stricken families who need urgent help.”

Ahmad Saeedi, a political analyst, said the government extended aid to the Palestinian people on political grounds — not based on humanitarian considerations.

But Faiq Wahidi, the deputy presidential spokesman, said aid to the Gaza people was solely driven by humanitarian considerations. He rejected the view that the poor Afghans had been ignored.

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