At least 70 people have been killed in a wave of freezing temperatures sweeping Afghanistan, officials said Wednesday, as the extreme weather deepened a humanitarian crisis in the impoverished country.
Since January 10, the mercury has plummeted in Kabul and several other provinces, with the central region of Ghor recording the lowest reading of -33C (-27F) over the weekend.
“This winter is the coldest in recent years,” Mohammad Nasim Muradi, head of Afghanistan’s meteorological office, told AFP.
Another week of cold weather
In the countryside, homeless families are seen warding off the cold by huddling around bonfires, while in the snowy capital, domestic coal heaters are fired up by the more fortunate.
“We expect the cold wave to continue for a week or more,” Muradi said.
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The disaster management ministry said 70 people and 70,000 cattle – an important commodity in the poor sector of Afghan society – had died in the past eight days.
Some central and northern provinces saw roads blocked by snow, according to images posted on social media.
Humanitarian crisis
This is the second winter since US-led forces withdrew and the Taliban stormed Kabul to replace the Washington-backed regime.
Since then, aid has dropped dramatically and major national assets have been frozen by the US, leading to one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Also read: At least 920 people killed in Afghanistan earthquake, 600 injured
More than half of the country’s 38 million people are experiencing hunger this winter, and nearly four million children are malnourished, according to aid agencies.
Last month, many NGOs still working in Afghanistan suspended their operations in protest at the Taliban government’s order banning women from working with humanitarian groups, except in the health sector.
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