The Embassy of Japan in Afghanistan on Monday announced that Japan has contributed $21 million for life-saving vaccines for mothers and children, and water and sanitation facilities in schools.

With this funding, UNICEF will provide clean water for 30,000 people in four provinces, and vaccines for 18.3 million mothers and children across Afghanistan.

Amid the devastating humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, the government of Japan has donated to UNICEF $18 million in support of essential vaccines for over 18 million mothers and children, and $3.6 million for water and sanitation facilities in public schools.

The vaccines are for measles, rotavirus, tetanus and diphtheria, polio, hepatitis B and others. These funds will also enable UNICEF to reach around 10 million children with oral polio vaccines during national vaccination campaigns in 2023.

“This support from the Japanese government will not only help to give mothers and children the immunity boost they need to stay healthy, but it will also improve sanitation and hygiene in schools,” said Rushnan Murtaza, UNICEF Afghanistan Deputy Representative.

“Complementing our past support to Afghanistan in health, nutrition and education, we hope these contributions will create cleaner, safer learning environments and communities for children and their families,” says Takashi Okada, Ambassador of Japan to Afghanistan.

Water and sanitation projects will be implemented in Ghor, Uruzgan, Zabul and Pakitika which are among the most deprived provinces in Afghanistan, according to UNICEF officials.

At least six civilians were killed and several others, including three Islamic Emirate forces, were wounded in a suicide bombing near a security checkpoint in Malik Azghar Square in Kabul, a spokesman for the Kabul security department, Khalid Zadran said.

The Emergency NGO hospital in Kabul meanwhile said on Twitter that it received 12 injured people, including a child from the blast that happened near the Foreign Ministry on Monday afternoon.

The hospital said soon after the explosion that two bodies had also been taken to the hospital.

So far, no group or individual has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Washington’s former special envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad said on Monday that if the Islamic Emirate’s claims of having killed three senior Daesh members was confirmed this would be a “significant blow to IS-K in Northern Afghanistan.”

Khalizad tweeted that the IEA had committed in the Doha Agreement to fight Daesh and that the “removal of these ISIS leaders indicates that it is doing so.”

“The US and Taliban should increase engagement to complete implementation of the Doha Agreement which serves Afghan and US interests,” he said.

This comes after the IEA announced on Sunday that three “key members” of Daesh had been killed in an operation in Balkh province.

According to the IEA, Mawlavi Ziauddin, the second highest ranked person in Daesh in the country; Abu Omar Afridi, a member of the Khorasan branch council; and Ustad Salman Tajikstani, one of the officials of Daesh military training unit, were killed.

Ziauddin had reportedly been the “Governor of Daesh for Khorasan” and “in charge of administrative and judicial affairs”.

The IEA said Ustad Salman was a citizen of Tajikistan and a specialist in military training and making explosives.