India Donates Tens of Thousands of Vaccine Doses to Afghanistan
India’s Ministry of External Affairs has announced that the country has donated 63,734 doses of influenza and meningitis vaccines to Kabul in support of public health efforts in Afghanistan. The shipment was officially handed over in Kabul on Thursday, December 3.
Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, emphasized in a post on the social media platform X that New Delhi remains committed to supporting the health and well-being of the Afghan people.
Just last week, India also dispatched 73 tons of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, including medicine, vaccines, and essential nutritional supplements. This ongoing humanitarian effort comes as access to basic healthcare services remains seriously challenged across much of Afghanistan due to the poor governance of the Taliban administration.
During a recent visit by the Taliban’s Minister of Industry and Commerce to New Delhi, agreements were made for several Indian pharmaceutical companies to explore the possibility of establishing local drug production in Afghanistan. However, public policy experts have expressed concerns that the lack of a clear regulatory framework and an unstable economic environment under Taliban rule could hinder the implementation of such projects.
At the same time, a $100 million agreement has been signed between an Afghan company and an Indian firm to import and locally produce pharmaceuticals in Afghanistan. Nonetheless, it remains unclear how these initiatives will be effectively implemented amid the dysfunctional and unaccountable governance structure of the Taliban.
