Pakistan to dispatch emergency relief goods for flood-hit Afghanistan

Pakistan on Thursday announced to send emergency relief goods for neighbouring Afghanistan where heavy rain and flooding killed 22 people and destroyed hundreds of homes.

“We are with the Afghan people in this difficult hour and will provide them every possible assistance,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said, expressing solidarity with the people facing devastation.

The premier expressed sorrow over the loss of precious lives due to floods in 10 provinces of Afghanistan.

He also called upon the international community to come forward and provide emergency assistance to the Afghan people in the wake of the devastating floods.

He urged the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to intensify its efforts in assisting the affected Afghan people through the Afghan Humanitarian Trust Forum.

PM Shehbaz said floods could worsen the situation of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

He said the international community, particularly the United Nations, should launch a program to help the people of Afghanistan by providing food, medical aid, and shelter to the displaced.

The Taliban government, struggling to cope with the disaster that has affected more than a third of its provinces, will approach international relief organisations for help, officials said.

"Due to flooding and storms in 12 provinces, 22 people have died and 40 injured," said Hassibullah Shekhani, head of communications and information at Afghanistan's National Disaster Management Authority.

The rain and flooding was particularly severe in the western provinces of Badghis and Faryab and the northern province of Baghlan.

Afghanistan has been suffering from drought in recent years, made worse by climate change, with low crop yields raising fears of serious food shortages. The weather has exacerbated problems of poverty caused by decades of war and then a drop in foreign aid and the freezing of assets abroad after the Taliban took over, and U.S.-led forces withdrew, in August.

Shekhani said 500 houses were destroyed, 2,000 damaged, 300 head of livestock killed and some 3,000 acres of crops damaged.

He said the International Committee of the Red Cross was helping and officials would approach other international organisations for help.

The international community is grappling with how to help the country of some 40 million people without benefiting the Taliban.