The Afghan regime has finalized a contract to buy 300,000 tons of badly needed wheat from Pakistan, Taliban ambassador Abdul Salam Zaeef said Wednesday.
He told the Afghan Islamic Islamic Press that the wheat would start arriving from January.
"We have contracted a total of 300,000 tons and will lift some 60,000 tons each month after paying the agreed price," he said.
Food prices were high in drought-hit Afghanistan, he added, but the Pakistani wheat should help to dampen inflation.
The World Food Program has distributed more than 110,000 tons of food to 2.3 million Afghans -- out of a total population estimated at around 20 million -- since the start of the year.
The United Nations says the drought, the worst in at least 30 years, has affected eight to 12 million Afghans, with about 1.6 million facing starvation.
It has also predicted a record cereal deficit of 2.3 million tons in 2000/2001, more than double the previous year -- ISLAMABAD (AFP)
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