Afghanistan: responding to UN appeal, Japan donates additional $7 million in aid

Responding to an appeal by the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, Japan has donated an additional $7 million to help the beleaguered people of Afghanistan, where the combined forces of war and drought have forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes.

Tokyo's emergency assistance package came on the heels of the appeal made by Kenzo Oshima following his mid-February visit to Afghanistan, according to the UN.

Last week, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) delivered the first consignment of Japanese aid, which consisted of tents, blankets and plastic sheets. The supplies were sent to Herat from Tokyo via Uzbekistan on a Japanese chartered plane which is scheduled to complete a second rotation with additional aid by the end of this week.

In total, IOM will distribute 160 tents, 1,200 blankets and 1,600 plastic sheets to camps in Shaiday and Maslakh sheltering over 90,000 internally displaced persons.