Since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, the flow of foreign aid into the impoverished country has drastically decreased, hindering relief responses to natural disasters.
A severe storm that brought heavy rainfall to eastern Afghanistan has resulted in the deaths of at least 35 people on Monday, a Taliban official said. Many others were injured across Nangarhar province, according to Sediqullah Quraishi, provincial director of the information and culture department, Associated Press reported.
Among the dead were five members of the same family who were killed when the roof of their house collapsed in Surkh Rod district, Quraishi said. Four other family members were injured.
He said there are women and children among those killed and injured, and the weather has destroyed many properties and crops in different parts of the province.
“With sadness, we have received reports that due to severe storms in some areas and districts of Nangarhar province, some of our countrymen have been martyred and over a hundred have been injured,” Senior Taliban Spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid wrote on X. “We wish a speedy recovery to all the injured and our thoughts are with the martyrs; we share this grief with the families of the victims.”
Earlier, the World Food Programme said the exceptionally heavy rains in Afghanistan had killed more than 300 people and destroyed thousands of houses, mostly in the northern province of Baghlan on May 10 and May 11.
Since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, the flow of foreign aid into the impoverished country has drastically decreased, hindering relief responses to natural disasters.
In February, at least 25 people were killed in a landslide caused by severe snowfall in eastern Afghanistan, and around 60 were killed during a three-week period of precipitation that ended in march.
The United Nations last year warned that “Afghanistan is experiencing major swings in extreme weather conditions”. Afghanistan ranks among the nations least prepared to face climate change.