The White House has responded to US President-elect Donald Trump's claim that billions of dollars have been sent to the Islamic Emirate-controlled Afghanistan, saying that aid is being sent to the people of the country, not the Islamic Emirate.

“It’s not even believable. Billions of dollars, not millions—billions,” Trump said earlier this week, adding, “We pay billions of dollars to essentially the Taliban in Afghanistan. And that’s given by Biden.”

But White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told the Voice of America that the humanitarian aid sent to Afghanistan is going to the Afghan people, not the IEA.

Earlier, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) strongly rejected claims by Donald Trump that the ruling government is receiving “billions of dollars” from the United States.

Hamdullah Fitrat, the IEA’s deputy spokesman said: “The claims of billions and millions of dollars of aid to the Islamic Emirate from the US side are completely false and we strongly reject them.”

Pakistan's Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui on Thursday said a formal invitation had already been sent to Afghanistan to participate in a conference on girls' education.

The international conference on girls' education in Muslim countries would be held from January 11 to 12 in Islamabad with aims to address challenges and opportunities of women.

Siddiqui expressed the hope that representative from the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) would attend the conference.

Addressing a news conference, the minister said that the conference, jointly organised by the MoFEPT and the Muslim World League (MWL), will be presided over by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

He said the ministry had already sent invitations to 57 counties which was confirmed by 48 countries and added the conference would be attended by leaders, policy makers, diplomats, religious scholars, educationists, and experts from Muslim countries.

The conference's keynote address would be delivered by Nobel Laureate and globally-acclaimed advocate for girls' education Malala Yousafzai, he added.

Khairullah Khairkhwa, Afghanistan’s minister of information and culture, this week met with Veronika Boskovic Pohar, the new EU charge d'affaires, to discuss the protection of Afghanistan’s cultural heritage.

According to the ministry, both sides discussed and exchanged opinions on the protection of cultural heritage, its value and public awareness on the issue.

At the meeting, Khairkhwa voiced appreciation for the EU’s cooperation in the field of cultural heritage protection, and emphasized the need for further development of relations.

"Protection of cultural heritage is not only the duty of Afghans, rather, it is the duty of the world to fully cooperate with Afghanistan in this field," he said.

Pohar in turn assured the minister of the EU’s continued cooperation in this respect.