Russia has opened a high-tech field hospital in the Afghan capital, Kabul, that officials say will serve up to 100 patients a day while distributing humanitarian aid.
The Russian news agency Tass said 100 aid and medical workers will staff the facility, which will also distribute aid transported from the former Soviet republics of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.
The hospital, contained in six large inflatable tents, was opened today (Sunday) by Russian Deputy Emergencies Minister Valery Vostrotin.
Hospital staffers will join about 100 other Russian civilians already working in Kabul as part of a growing international effort to distribute medical aid and other critical relief supplies to hundreds of thousands of Afghans as winter sets in.
The humanitarian effort marks the first Russian presence inside Afghanistan since troops of the former Soviet Union pulled out of the country in 1989 after a 10-year occupation