According to a Taliban official, at least 78 individuals have died in Afghanistan’s frigid temperatures during the past nine days.


According to Shafiullah Rahimi, a spokesperson for the Taliban’s Ministry of Disaster Management, over 77,000 animals have also perished in recent days after temperatures fell to record lows.


The frigid weather has turned into the country’s coldest winter in 15 years, with temperatures dipping as low as -34 degrees Celsius (-29.2 degrees Fahrenheit), Reuters has reported.

RELATED STORIES


“The weather will get colder in the next few days, therefore it is necessary to consider humanitarian aid for affected people,” said Abdullah Ahmadi, the head of the operations centre for emergency conditions at the Ministry of Disaster Management has said.


Health professionals noted a substantial rise in the number of small children with severe pneumonia and other respiratory illnesses even in the early days of winter. Rising poverty that prevents people from adequately heating their homes is partly to blame for the illnesses.