Qatar sent 60 tonnes of aid to flood-hit Afghanistan, providing food, blankets, and necessities for 8,000 people, while Qatar Charity plans future interventions following devastating floods that have killed over 50 people.

Qatar sent an additional 60 tonnes of aid to flood-hit Afghanistan on Saturday as the country faced new flash floods that have killed more than 50 people.

Qatar Charity (QC) provided the latest aid batch, which included 1,000 food baskets, 3,000 blankets and other basic necessities that benefitted 8,000 people in the provinces of Balkh and Takhar.

QC’s Director of the Emergency and Relief Department, Mana Al Ansari, noted that the Qatari entity is “studying new projects for future intervention” to assist Afghanistan following the floods.

The floods hit Afghanistan on May 11 in the northern province of Baghlan, killing more than 300 people while destroying more than 2,000 houses, according to the United Nations.

Qatar had expressed its “full solidarity” with Afghanistan on the same day and deployed a search and rescue team to the country on May 13.

Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani directed a team from the Internal Security Force’s (Lekhwiya) Qatari International Search and Rescue Group to assist with the missions on the ground.

However, it remains unclear when the search and rescue team will carry out their mission on the ground.

Then on May 16, Qatar sent 42 tonnes of aid to Mazar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan, provided by QC and the Qatar Red Crescent Society.

New floods hit Afghanistan on Saturday in the Ghor province, killing more than 50 people.

Mawlawi Abdul Hai Zaeem, the head of the information department for the central Ghor province, told Reuters on Saturday that the floods cut several key roads to the area. The Afghan official said that the floods destroyed at least 2,000 houses and drowned more than 2,000 shops.

In a separate statement, Ghor police spokesman Abdul Rahman Badri said the floods destroyed livestock and agricultural land that many relied on as a basic source of income.

“These terrible floods have also killed thousands of cattle…They have destroyed hundreds of hectares of agricultural land, hundreds of bridges and culverts, and destroyed thousands of trees,” he said.

On Saturday, Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman of the Taliban-led acting Afghan government, called on global donors to assist the country.

“To our benevolent donors, we appeal for assistance in aiding the affected families, and we urge them not to withhold their generosity in this time of need,” he said.

Afghanistan remains among the “world’s top 10 climate-impacted countries,” according to the UN. The climate crisis coupled with decades of conflicts exacerbated Afghanistan’s dire humanitarian and economic situation.

Almost two-thirds of the population needed aid by the end of 2023, according to Human Rights Watch.