In this image made from video, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian gestures during a media briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs office, on Wednesday, April 6, 2022, in Beijing. (LIU ZHENG / AP PHOTO)

BEIJING – Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian on Thursday said that the United States should immediately stop chokeholding the Afghan people and return to them Afghanistan's national assets as soon as possible.

In recent days, Chinese military's Y-20 cargo planes arrived at Kabul International Airport, carrying with them disaster relief supplies for Afghan people. Some internet users said this contrasts sharply with what happened at this same airport in August last year, when at least two Afghans fell to their deaths from a US C-17 cargo airplane which hastily took off

Zhao made the remarks at a press conference when answering a relevant question.

In recent days, Chinese military's Y-20 cargo planes arrived at Kabul International Airport, carrying with them disaster relief supplies for Afghan people. Some internet users said this contrasts sharply with what happened at this same airport in August last year, when at least two Afghans fell to their deaths from a US C-17 cargo airplane which hastily took off.

"I noticed some say that, at the same airport, one plane caused the loss of lives, while the other brought hopes," Zhao said. "After the earthquake hit, China has acted at top speed to help Afghanistan to the best of its capacity. We have immediately provided 50 million yuan ($7.45 million) worth of emergency humanitarian assistance to the quake-affected areas in Afghanistan."

China is among the first countries that have provided the biggest and most tangible aid to Afghanistan, Zhao said. "As of June 29, three batches of relief supplies had arrived in Afghanistan, and the Chinese side is in close coordination with the interim government of Afghanistan to ensure that the relief supplies will be delivered to the people affected as soon as possible to help them pull through."

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Zhao said the United States is the one that started the ongoing humanitarian disasters in Afghanistan and it is immediately responsible for the raging wars and conflicts, poverty, hunger and the people's suffering in that country for many years.

During the 20 years of US invasion of Afghanistan, over 30,000 Afghan civilians were killed and 11 million Afghans became refugees. During the same period, the United States also connived at, supported and participated in the production and trade of drugs in Afghanistan. As such, the cultivation of poppy and production of opium far exceed the level before the US invasion, leading to drug proliferation in the country and seriously threatening the lives and health of Afghan people, according to Zhao.

"It is even more indignant that the United States has, without asking the Afghan people, brazenly frozen their $7 billion of life-saving money, making things even worse for them. This egregious behavior is more than outrageous," Zhao said.

In the face of natural disasters and man-made calamities, the United States should immediately stop chokeholding the Afghan people and return to them Afghanistan's national assets as soon as possible, said Zhao, adding that the United States should take concrete actions to remedy the harms they have inflicted on the Afghan people and mitigate the ongoing humanitarian disaster in that country.

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