Give money.
Don't donate anything else. Money is the only thing you have that other people don't.
Let's step away from the current disaster and remember another request that made the rounds:
Remember when pens and pencils were being collected for school kids in Afghanistan?
That drove me up the wall. It still does.
I happen to know that China and Pakistan make pens and pencils (and notebooks and desks - and probably school lockers). Iran likely does too. Those countries border Afghanistan. Simply, it is much cheaper to buy the pencils there than here. Further, buying Chinese or Pakistani pencils creates markets and trade - and jobs. If demand rises high enough, some entrepreneur will start a pencil factory in Afghanistan.
Sending pencils all the way from the US undercuts local capacities and local opportunities. Shipping pencils from here to there hurts the very people we claim to be helping.
The one thing Afghanistan does not have or have ready access to is money. Send that instead.
Posted by Martial