This is indeed making joke of the Afghan people. While hundreds of thousands of Afghans are facing starvation and millions of others are under the line of poverty and in need of help and Mr. Karzai and his government frequently call for help from other counties, this kind of donations just worth laughing at. They want to pretend that Afghans are no more hungry and Afghan government is a legitimate one which not only care to Afghans but also care to people in other parts of the world including the richest country in the world!

While Afghanistan is correctly called a “silent tsunami” by many and people are facing harsh situation under the domination of pro-US warlords, making donations to Katrina victims in the US does not make any sense.

We heartedly express our sympathies and sorrow with the victims of Katrina in the USA but feel sorry that our hands are empty and can’t provide any help to them, which we definitely know to be understandable to the US people. Being victims of many political Katrinas and Tsunamis in the past 25 years, we know well the depth of their sadness.

RAWA

PakTribune, September 5, 2005

Impoverished Afghanistan donates $100,000 to Katrina victims

KABUL: Poverty-stricken Afghanistan has offered a $100,000 donation to victims of hurricane Katrina that devasted New Orleans in the US last week.

Mohammad Karim Rahimi, spokesman for President Hamid Karzai, told Pajhwok Afghan News the other day the gesture of the Afghan government was aimed at showing solidarity with the hurricane affectees.

The US embassy here, in a statement issued to the Press, appreciated the move and said President Karzai sent a letter to Ambassador Ronald Neumann offering assistance to the Katrina victims. The statement from Neumann added Karzai's offer was reflective of the strong ties between the two countries.

Meanwhile, a statement from the presidential office said Khan Muhammad, an Afghan elder, presented to the US ambassador a letter from President Karzai earmarking the funds for disaster relief. He handed the letter to Neumann on behalf of Afghanistan's people.

Khan observed: The people and the government of the United States have given us extensive support in difficult situations and have played a leading role in the stabilisation and reconstruction of our country; now we want to assist them in their time of need.

Hurricane Katrina, which struck the Gulf Coast of the United States on August 29, has left many Americans dead and thousands displaced.

Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, today signed a decree, on behalf of the people of Afghanistan, for donation of 100,000 dollars to the victims of Hurricane Katrina in the United States, the US embassy statement said.

In 2004, Afghanistan received pledges of more than 4.5 billion dollars in foreign aid per year, around half of which came from the United States.

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