At least six people have died in flash floods in southern Kandahar province since Tuesday, local officials said Wednesday.

Mawlavi Taher, Maroof district police chief, in Kandahar, confirmed that six people had died in floods in parts of his district on Tuesday night.

He said the district’s security department compound was also destroyed in the floods.

Meanwhile, the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARC), has provided 1.4 million AFN in cash assistance to flood-affected families in Mianshin district of Kandahar province.

According to ARC they have also so far helped 279 flood-affected families in Spinboldak district in Kandahar.

This comes after almost two weeks of heavy rain across southern and eastern provinces in the country.

Panjshir residents have also reported that heavy rain has caused widespread damage to properties in Dara and Abshar districts in the province.

Locals said heavy rain started falling on Tuesday night in Dara district and destroyed the Dara-e-Abdullah Khel road.

Officials from the disaster management department in Panjshir confirmed however that no casualties had been reported but that bridges and canals have been destroyed.

Weather officials have however warned of more rain to come over the next two days across eastern Afghanistan.

A group of 50 religious scholars from Kabul province met with the supreme leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), Mawlavi Haibatullah Akhundzada, in Kandahar to discuss problems faced by Kabul residents and women’s rights issues.

The meeting took place at the request of the leader of the IEA.

Religious scholars have asked the supreme leader to pay special attention to education and to make changes in the curriculum if necessary.

The scholars also discussed women’s rights within the framework of Islamic Sharia and the issue of girls’ education. The supreme leader assured the religious scholars that the problems of the capital will be taken care of.

“The main purpose of this meeting was to solve the problems of the capital city and to convey his orders to the people from the pulpit of mosques and through scholars,” said Nada Mohammad Nadim, governor of Kabul.

Scholars said they addressed the issue of women’s problems, and respecting women’s rights within the framework of Islam, and the revision of school curriculum.

“For the supreme leader, there is no difference between mujahid and non-mujahid, and everyone has equal rights,” said Abdul Hamid Hamasi, a religious scholar.

More than 113,000 tons of dried fruits and medicinal plants have been exported from Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province over the past 12 months, Kandahar Chamber of Commerce and Industries officials said, adding that this generated $308 million in revenue.

“We faced some troubles in exporting due to the political developments, but we continued to export in good quality. Thanks God Islamic Emirate officials have not created any problems for us,” said Mohammad Dawood Qaderi, head of Kandahar Chamber of Commerce and Industries.

He said that they gave advice to IEA authorities on improving exports, which they accepted.

According to the official, figs have been the biggest export this year.

Meanwhile, traders also said that the export sector in Kandahar has improved.

“Thanks God, trade in dried fruits is going well. The routes are secure now,” said Mir Hamza, a dried fruits trader.

He called for an agreement with countries that would allow for barter deals.

Some traders, however, said that they were unable to collect their exchanged items or their money due to sanctions.

Noor Ali, a dried fruits trader, said that the level of exports was good this year, but traders were unable to collect their money due to international banking restrictions.