Scores of people have died in a wave of freezing weather sweeping Afghanistan, officials have said, as extreme conditions compound a humanitarian crisis in the poverty-stricken nation.
Earlier this week, a Taliban spokesperson said at least 78 people had died in the coldest winter Afghanistan had seen in 15 years, while Acting Minister of Disaster Management Mullah Mohammad Abbas Akhund told the BBC the number had since climbed to at least 124.
Since January 10, the mercury has plunged in Kabul and several other provinces, with temperatures dropping as low as -34 degrees Celsius.
"This winter is by far the coldest in recent years," Mohammad Nasim Muradi, the head of Afghanistan's meteorology office, said.
In the countryside, homeless families were seen warding off the cold by huddling around campfires, whilst in the snowy capital domestic coal heaters were fired up by the more fortunate.
"We expect the cold wave to continue for another week or more," Mr Muradi said.
Images posted on social media showed roads in several central and northern provinces blocked by heavy snowfall.
The ministry of disaster management said 70,000 cattle — a vital commodity in poorer sectors of Afghan society — died over the past eight days.
"Lost livelihoods and assets further endanger Afghan families at a time when 21.2 million people urgently need continued food and agricultural support," the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Twitter.
Aid 'severely impacted' by ban on female workers
Last month, many NGOs still working in Afghanistan suspended their operations in protest against a Taliban government order banning women from working with humanitarian groups, except in the health sector.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said last week that the restrictions on female workers were hampering efforts to deliver aid.
"Humanitarian partners are providing [winter] support to families, including heating, cash for fuel and warm clothes, but distributions have been severely impacted by the … ban on female NGO aid workers," it said.
Even in the early part of winter, health workers had reported a sharp increase in the number of young children suffering from serious cases of pneumonia and other respiratory diseases, in part due to worsening poverty that left people unable to properly heat their homes.
This is the second winter since US-led forces withdrew and the Taliban swept into Kabul to replace the Washington-backed regime.
Since then, aid has dramatically declined and key national assets have been frozen by the US, leading to one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.
More than half of the country's 38 million people are facing hunger this winter, and nearly 4 million children are suffering from malnutrition, according to aid agencies.
ABC/wires
