The Taliban Ministry of Industry and Trade has appealed for help from Afghanistan’s private sector to help the population combat the country’s worst winter in 15 years, which has already left some 160 people dead in temperatures as low as -28°C and amid lengthy power cuts following the temporary cessation of supplies from Uzbekistan.
In a statement reported by Tolo News, the Taliban called on Afghanistan’s private sector to «help the vulnerable and needy people through the special committee of this Ministry in order to avoid more casualties from the cold».
The cold has already claimed the lives of at least 157 people and 70,000 head of livestock, according to the spokesman of the Taliban Ministry of Disaster Management, Safiullah Rahimi, to CNN.
In addition, much of the country has suffered long power cuts over the past few days following the power cut from Uzbekistan that began on January 16 and lasted for more than a week.
There are residents in the capital, Kabul, who have received only one hour of electricity every two days, according to Radio Azadi, the Afghan branch of the U.S. international public broadcaster Radio Free Liberty.
Uzbekistan, however, resumed electricity exports to Afghanistan on January 25 and Turkmenistan also recently renewed an annual electricity supply agreement with the Taliban.
All this is taking place in the midst of a catastrophic humanitarian situation, especially for the child population. The UN World Food Program fears that by 2023, 875,000 children will suffer from severe acute malnutrition and 2.3 million children will suffer from moderate acute malnutrition.
In addition, according to the WFP spokesperson in Afghanistan, if the country enters a third year of drought, the nutritional situation could deteriorate for 20 percent more of those affected.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
