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Flash Floods Affected Thousands of People in Afghanistan: UNOCHA
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in Afghanistan said in a report on Tuesday that flash flood on 27, 28 and 29 March in Faryab, Balkh, Jawzjan, Sar-e-Pul, Herat and Badghis provinces have affected thousands of people in the country.
According to the report, heavy rains caused flash flooding in provinces of Afghanistan, while assessments are ongoing, an estimated 17,000 people have been affected with Balkh and Herat suffering the worst impacts.
“In Balkh, unconfirmed reports suggest several fatalities in Chemtal district, with up to 645 families (4,515 people) affected throughout the Province,” the report said.
Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) assessment teams have so far identified 187 families in need (49 houses completely destroyed & 138 severely damaged) in Mazar-e-Sharif, while 161 families in Solara and 297 families in Chemtal districts have been assessed as affected. Assessments in other districts are ongoing.
Reports indicate several people have died in Almar and Khwaja Sabz Posh, while a number of people also remain missing in Khwaja Sabz Posh and Pashtunkot Districts of northern Faryab province.
According to the OCHA’s initial reports, up to 450 families were affected in Dawlatabad district and there also reports of damage in Shirin Tagab district. In Qaysar district, 1,200 livestock have reportedly been killed and 10 jeribs (2 hectares) of agricultural land affected by floods.
The report added that there are also reports of damage in Darzab and Qoshtepa districts, which are inaccessible due to security concerns in Sari-e-Pul province, “a joint assessment has so far identified 155 families however road closures have limited access to other villages in the affected areas and numbers may change.”
At the meantime, the Ministry of Public Health has reported that eight people died and nine were injured in six districts of western Herat province following flash flooding, while more than 1,000 families may have been affected.
Initial reports indicate that over 200 families are affected in Qala-e-Naw, Jawand, Balamurghab, Abkamari, Mugur districts in western Badghis province.
“This new flooding adds to the impact of the overall flood emergency, with Farah and Kandahar the most affected to date,” said the OCHA adding, “Since the beginning of 2019, more than 163,000 people have now been affected by floods, including those in the past week. A total of more than 42,000 people have been displaced.”
Meanwhile, the OCHA in warns of possible flash floods during the spring season in the country.
“The conditions for more flooding through the spring remain a concern and humanitarian organizations are planning to ensure they have enough supplies for the remainder of the season,” the report noted.
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Girls’ education is a ‘vital issue’ for Afghanistan: Karzai
Former president Hamid Karzai said in a meeting with Iran’s ambassador and special representative, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, that education of girls was a “vital issue” for Afghanistan.
Karzai said he appreciated Iran’s cooperation and its standing with the Afghan people, especially Iran’s contributions to education in Afghanistan.
During the meeting, Karzai said peace and stability in the region are in the interest of all regional countries.
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Uzbekistan’s humanitarian aid arrives in Balkh
A shipment of humanitarian aid from Uzbekistan was handed over on Thursday to the local officials of Balkh province in the trade port of Hairatan.
Local authorities said the aid, which includes flour, oil, wheat, sugar and meat, has been handed over by Uzbekistan’s Surkhandarya governor to the governor of Balkh.
The governor of Surkhandarya stated the purpose of sending this aid was to support the people of Afghanistan and stressed the need for the development of good relations between the two countries.
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Afghanistan’s problems caused more damage to Pakistan than 3 wars with India: Durrani
Islamabad’s special envoy for Afghanistan Asif Durrani said on Wednesday that Pakistan has suffered more due to Afghanistan’s internal situation than Pakistan has suffered in three wars with India in terms of blood spilt and finances drained.
Durrani said at a one-day International Conference titled “Pakistan in the Emerging Geopolitical Landscape”, which was organized by the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) and the German Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), that over 80,000 Pakistanis died in the two decades of the War on Terror and that his country was still counting its dead and injured.
“After the withdrawal of NATO forces, it was hoped that peace in Afghanistan would bring peace to the region. However, such expectations were short-lived,” he said.
He also stated that attacks by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant group on Pakistan’s border areas increased by 65 percent, while suicide attacks increased by 500 percent.
“The TTP’s enhanced attacks on Pakistan while using Afghan soil have been a serious concern for Pakistan. Another worrying aspect is the participation of Afghan nationals in these attacks,” he said.
Durrani also said Pakistan had suffered geopolitically since the Soviet Union invaded the neighboring country.
“The post-9/11 world order has negatively impacted Pakistan. Apart from losing 80,000 citizens’ lives, including 8,000 law enforcement agency personnel, the country’s economic opportunity cost is estimated at $150 billion,” Durrani said.
Talking about the future outlook for Pakistan in the regional context, Durrani said that while “our eastern neighbor is likely to continue with its anti-Pakistan pursuits, the western border poses an avoidable irritant in the short to medium term.”
However, he said Pakistan can overcome its difficulties with Afghanistan, including the TTP challenge.
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