The UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, with the support of the Government of Uzbekistan, today sent 12 trucks with over 48,000 blankets through the International Multifunctional Transport and Logistics Hub in Termez, Uzbekistan, to Afghanistan to provide life-saving assistance to forcibly displaced persons and other vulnerable people in Afghanistan during harsh winter.

The consignments were dispatched from UNHCR’s Regional Humanitarian Logistics Hub established with support of the Government of Uzbekistan in October 2021. Located in the Termez Cargo Centre – 2km from the Uzbekistan-Afghanistan border – the hub enables UNHCR to rapidly replenish national stockpiles, in the region and be more agile in its humanitarian response.

“UNHCR jointly with the Government of Uzbekistan are making all efforts to continue most critical life-saving humanitarian aid to the Afghan population. This is vital, especially during this cold winter. Thanks to support by the Uzbek Government and local partners, UNHCR can quickly assist to meet urgent needs of women, children, and men in Afghanistan,” said Mr Frank Remus, UNHCR Senior Liaison Officer.

The Termez hub serves as the main consolidation and transfer point to deliver assistance to UNHCR’s operations in Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Central Asia and beyond. In 2021-2022, the hub sent 217 trucks of essential relief items needed by households forcibly displaced as well as when caught up in natural disasters like floods and earthquakes. Critical relief items dispatched from UNHCR’s Termez Regional Humanitarian Logistics Hub include sleeping mats, tarpaulins, heavy duty buckets, blankets, stainless steel kitchen sets, jerry cans, and portable solar LED lamps.

Natural disasters like earthquakes in northwestern Afghanistan (January 2022), southeastern Afghanistan (June 2022) and eastern Afghanistan (September 2022) as well as record summertime flooding in Afghanistan and in neighbouring Pakistan saw significant distribution efforts of emergency relief supplies. In 2022 UNHCR aided 5.9 million persons throughout all 34 provinces of Afghanistan with core relief items and cash assistance as well as protection and reintegration activities.