Afghan refugees (archive image)
Afghan refugees (archive image)iStock

Israel has joined a group of United Nations member states pooling money together to aid Afghan refugees who fled their homeland following the Taliban’s takeover of the country last year.

The Jewish state has donated $500,000 to a United Nations fund aimed at providing food, medical equipment, and other essential goods to Afghan refugees living in the neighboring state of Tajikistan, the Israeli Foreign Minister said Tuesday.

Thousands of Afghans fled the country for Tajikistan following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan last August.

A total of six million Afghans, or some 15% of the country’s population, currently live abroad as refugees or asylum seekers, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has estimated.

The UN is hoping to raise a total of $5 billion for Afghan refugees.