(Kabul) The Taliban government in power in Afghanistan on Sunday launched an aid program consisting of donating wheat for work for tens of thousands of men to fight hunger across the country.
Government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told a press conference in the capital that the programme, which will provide jobs for 40,000 men in Kabul, is set to start in several other cities.
“This is an important step in the fight against unemployment,” he said, adding that participants should “work hard.”
The program is set to last two months, with 11,600 tons of wheat distributed as wages in the capital and 55,000 in other big cities in the country such as Herat, Jalalabad or Kandahar.
In Kabul, for example, participants will have to dig canals and ditches to collect water and snow in order to combat water shortages.
Mr. Mujahid and other officials, including Minister of Agriculture Abdul Rahman Rashid and Kabul Mayor Hamdullah Nomani, cut the pink ribbon and dug a small hole at the opening ceremony in Rich Khor, a rural area of the capital.
Afghanistan, wracked by poverty and drought, and its economy in tatters, is about to face a harsh winter, which few families are equipped to contend with.
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