Germany is providing emergency humanitarian aid as winter approaches in Afghanistan, sending a total of 750,000 euro for winter-aid projects to three German aid organizations.

These funds are to be used to support measures helping the rural population as well as to assist returning refugees and internally displaced persons. These people often live in extremely difficult material circumstances.

More than anything else, there is a severe shortage of medical care in the central highlands, which Caritas Germany is intended to help alleviate. A total of ten health clinics will be kept supplied with medication and equipment throughout the winter.

In the slums of Kabul, the aid organizations ADRA and Deutsche Welthungerhilfe are seeking to distribute urgently needed aid, including blankets, stoves and heating fuel, to those in need. The intention is to use local seamstresses in manufacturing the blankets, which will allow them too to benefit directly from the aid measures. Aid workers will also ensure the provision of free basic medical care.

In 2010 so far, the Federal Foreign Office has provided almost 4 million euro for humanitarian aid projects in Afghanistan, which range from providing medical aid to protecting the rights of refugees and those returning to their homes.