The seventh "Kindness Train" that departed from Ankara with the coordination of the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) reached Afghanistan’s Herat province on Monday.
Sinan Ilhan, Türkiye’s consulate general to Herat, welcomed the train with AFAD and Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) officials.
According to AFAD officials speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), the train carried over 500 tons of humanitarian aid, which would be distributed to families in need in various provinces over the next few days.
The aid includes food materials, winter clothing, shoes, carpets, blankets, hygiene products, wheelchairs and sewing machines, among other items.
Previously six Kindness Trains have transported 7 tons of humanitarian aid to Afghan people.
Afghanistan found itself deprived of international humanitarian assistance when U.S.-led NATO forces withdrew in August 2021, and the Taliban took control of the country. For years the lack of aid needed to ensure the welfare of the population in war-torn Afghanistan was economically devastating for the country.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has assigned the AFAD to coordinate the work to respond to the deepening humanitarian crisis. The AFAD spearheaded the aid campaigns carried out by Turkish charities across the country. In a short time, trains were brimming with humanitarian aid, from food to hygiene kits.
Trains delivered aid to the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, with four separate mass deliveries in each area. The assistance helps tens of thousands of families get through the harsh winter and includes blankets, winter clothes, flour, sugar, cooking oil and basic foodstuffs. The trains also carried aid for orphanages, schools, hospitals, centers for disadvantaged people and places of worship, from stationary to carpets and wheelchairs, from medicine to medical equipment.
Along with the economic crisis, Afghanistan was hit by earthquakes and floods, and "Kindness Trains" also reached the victims of those disasters.
