KABUL, (Reuters) – The Taliban administration announced Tuesday that it would expand its ‘foodforwork’ program. In this program it uses donated wheat rather than cash to pay thousands in the public sector.

Officials from agriculture said that the wheat donated by India to Kabul’s previous U.S.-backed government is now being used to provide 10kg per day wages to workers who work five hours each day.

According to them, the program, which has mostly employed labourers for public works programs in Kabul and other areas, will expand across the country.

Fazel Bari Fazli (Deputy Minister of Administration and Finance at the Ministry of Agriculture) stated that “we are willing to help our people in any way we can.”

According to Fazli, the Taliban government has received 18 tonnes additional wheat from Pakistan and has a promise for 37 tonnes more. It is currently in negotiations with India for 55 tons.

He said, “We have many plans for food for our work program.”

It was unclear how much wheat from the donations would go to humanitarian relief and what amount workers would receive.

As cash flows dry up, the expanding program underscores the dilemma facing the Taliban administration. This could cause donors to question the effectiveness of humanitarian aid. However, financial flows are restricted.

A combination of international sanctions targeting Taliban members, the freezing central bank assets, and a sudden decrease in international aid that used to be the backbone for the economy have left the Taliban government facing an economic crisis and limited finances.

As foreign governments try to stop millions starving, humanitarian aid continues. However, it is distributed mostly by multilateral international institutions and designed to bypass the Afghan government channels.

U.N. agencies asked for humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan for 2022 of $4.4 billion on Tuesday. They called the aid an essential stopgap to secure the future of the country.