At least 157 people have died in a wave of freezing temperatures sweeping Afghanistan, a Taliban official said on Tuesday, with the death toll doubling in less than a week as millions face bitter temperatures with minimal humanitarian aid, CNN reports.
The South Asian country is facing one of the coldest winters on record, with temperatures plummeting to as low as minus 33°C in early January – far below the nationwide average of between 0°C and 5°C for this time of year.
The impact of the cold has become far worse as a number of humanitarian aid groups closed their operation in the country, following the Taliban's ban on female NGO workers. However, a limited amount of humanitarian aid is being distributed across the country.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said on Twitter it was delivering aid such as blankets, heating and shelter to some 565,700 people.
“But much more is needed amid one of the coldest spells in years,” it added.
Around 70,000 livestock have also frozen to death across the country, Shafiullah Rahimi, a spokesman for the Taliban's Ministry of Disaster Management told CNN Tuesday.
Several central and northern provinces saw roads blocked by heavy snowfall, according to images posted on social media.
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 four million children are suffering from malnutrition, according to aid agencies.
Last month, many NGOs still working in Afghanistan suspended their operations in protest over a Taliban government order banning women from working with humanitarian groups, except in the health sector.
Last week, some of the UN's most senior female officials took a four-day trip to Afghanistan and met with Taliban leaders in Kabul, asking them to lift the ban and “put the good of the country first.”