Afghanistan appeals to China to help put out raging Nuristan forest fire

Taliban’s Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai asks Chinese embassy for Beijing’s help to contain 12-day-old fire

Head of Afghan Ministry of Disaster Management’s emergency operations centre says local firefighters lack advanced firefighting equipment

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China will “help Afghanistan within its capacity” after Kabul appealed for help to extinguish a forest fire in Nuristan province. Photo: Handout

Published: 3:30pm, 5 Jun 2022Updated: 9:34pm, 5 Jun 2022

Afghanistan is seeking help from China to contain a forest fire that has been raging in its eastern Nuristan province for 12 days.

Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, acting deputy foreign minister of the Taliban regime, made the request during a meeting on Thursday with Ding Yinan, charge d’affaires at the Chinese embassy in Afghanistan, according to a statement released by the Chinese embassy in Kabul.

Ding said that as a friendly neighbouring country, China would “help Afghanistan within its capacity to relieve difficulties in all aspects and economic reconstruction”, according to the statement on Sunday.

Stanikzai hoped China could help put out the fire in Nuristan’s Nurgram district.

Nuristan is one of the poorest Afghan provinces but is well known for its pine nut trees. Afghan businesspeople are trying to export pine nuts to China to ease poverty in the area.

Local media cited Mullah Janan Sayq, head of the Afghan State Ministry of Disaster Management’s emergency operations centre, as saying local firefighters were sent to the area to contain the situation but failed because they lacked advanced firefighting equipment.