The Afghanistan Winter Aid Task Force at the German Embassy in Kabul has already coordinated Federal Foreign Office projects to the tune of 2.6 million euro this winter. The bulk of the aid is being used to help the population in remote rural areas.

A current example: in the northern province of Takhar, the rehabilitation of roads in Rustaq district is providing 1,100 households which were particularly hard hit by the crop failures last year with a temporary source of income. The project is being implemented by German Agro Action and will also help improve access to local markets.

The Federal Foreign Office's overall winter aid for Afghanistan thus totals 7.4 million euro this winter. In addition to the funds spent by the Task Force, the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) received a further 4.8 million euro.

In early November, the German Government set up an Afghanistan Winter Aid Task Force at the Germany Embassy in Kabul to coordinate and identify German emergency aid. Keeping in close contact with German relief organizations, it assesses the situation on the ground and subsequently coordinates the provision of German aid. It includes experts from different ministries and is headed by the German Ambassador, Werner Hans Lauk.

Since 2001 the Federal Foreign Office has made available a total amount of around 85 million euro for humanitarian aid and humanitarian demining in Afghanistan.