Lithuania decides to use unspent Afghan army aid funds for Ukraine's needs

Lithuania has decided to use almost 3 million US dollars earmarked, but not spent, for Afghanistan's security forces to buy warm clothing for Ukrainian soldiers and help meet other needs of the country which is fighting back against Russian aggression.

The government on Wednesday adopted a protocol decision to take back 2.876 million US dollars (2.94 million euros) contributed by Lithuania to the NATO-run Afghan National Army (ANA) Trust Fund.

"Since 2.876 million (dollars) have not been used, we propose to use (some of) the unspent funds for the Defense Ministry's support to Ukraine, that is, to purchase warm clothes, and to transfer the remaining 700,000 (dollars) to NATO's Comprehensive Assistance Package for Ukraine," Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas told the Cabinet.

Lithuania had contributed 500,000 US dollars to the trust fund annually since 2015. However, the fund stopped providing support to Afghanistan after the Taliban took control of the country last year.

The government expects to recover 2.15 million dollars by the end of this year and use the money to buy warm clothes for Ukrainian troops.

It decided to transfer the remaining 722,213 dollars to the Comprehensive Assistance Package for Ukraine next year.