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A villager transporting food aid in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, in April.Credit...Bryan Denton for The New York Times

Road blocks, roadside bombs, ambushes and kidnapping were the kinds of threats aid workers operating in Afghanistan faced for two decades during the Talibans insurgency. Parts of the country were off limits entirely as the conflict ebbed and flowed, and even on open roads the risk of gun battles remained real.

Last August, however, the Taliban stormed to power, effectively ending the war and easing security for millions of residents as well as for humanitarian workers.

There is no active conflict going on now, said Babar Baloch, a spokesman for the U.N. refugee agency who started working in the country more than two decades ago. We do have more access.

That access should make it easier to bring relief after the deadliest earthquake in two decades killed at least 1,000 people and injured more than 1,600 others.

We are rushing in supplies for the earthquake and for other humanitarian emergencies, Mr. Baloch said.

But even as access has improved, other developments since last August have sent humanitarian needs soaring and brought unforeseen problems, aid workers say.

Most notable is the loss of financial, technical and security assistance from Western governments that were desperate to see the country emerge as a democracy after the Taliban was toppled in 2001.

That flood of aid more than doubled the nations annual per capita gross domestic product, from around $200 in 2001 to around $500 last year, according to World Bank figures. But those gains were not spread evenly rural areas saw less change than cities such as the capital, Kabul, and the southern city of Kandahar.

The economy has contracted sharply since the Taliban took power. Investors and foreign governments pulled back and many skilled workers fled, while the United States and other Western countries froze government bank accounts now controlled by the Taliban.

As the country struggles with drought and hunger, half of Afghanistans roughly 40 million people need humanitarian aid, the United Nations said in January as it asked member nations for more than $5 billion for the people of Afghanistan, as governments struggle with how to support a population in need while avoiding helping the Taliban itself.

Part of the Afghanistan population is already in a humanitarian crisis, with people buying expired bread that is normally fed to animals, the U.N. Resident Coordinator in Afghanistan, Ramiz Alakbarov, said on Wednesday, referring to trends in the country over the past year. This does add to the burden of dealing with the earthquake.

In addition, aid workers face an institutional challenge rarely seen in other countries: Coordinating operations with officials who were long part of an insurgent force, but are now attempting to transition into a full-fledged government.

In one measure of the dynamic, Abdul Qahar Balkhi, the spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, asked those wishing to help from any part of the world to donate to the countrys arm of the Red Crescent, which would deliver aid to victims in full transparency.

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At Least 1,000 Killed in Afghanistan Earthquake, Officials Say

The military ranks of Afghanistan were the military insignia used by militaries of Afghanistan throughout history.

Following the return of the Taliban into power, the Islamic Emirate Armed Forces continue to use the rank insignia of the Islamic Republic Armed Forces.

The rank insignia of commissioned officers.

The rank insignia of non-commissioned officers and enlisted personnel.

The rank insignia of commissioned officers.

The rank insignia of non-commissioned officers and enlisted personnel.

The rank insignia of commissioned officers.

The rank insignia of non-commissioned officers and enlisted personnel.

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Military ranks of Afghanistan - Wikipedia

KABUL, June 25 (Reuters) - Vital medical supplies reached hospitals on Saturday in the remote area of Afghanistan hit by an earthquake that killed more than 1,000 people this week, as the country's Taliban government appealed for more international aid.

Authorities have called off the search for survivors in the mountainous southeastern region near the Pakistani border following's Wednesday's 6.1-magnitude quake, which also injured about 2,000 people and damaged or destroyed 10,000 homes.

Aftershocks on Friday killed at least five more people in the area some 160 km (100 miles) southeast of the capital Kabul, and medical staff said rudimentary healthcare facilities were hampering their efforts to help the injured.

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"Those injured that were in a bad condition and needed operations, (which) we can't do here, have been sent to Kabul," said Abrar, who goes by one name, the manager of a hospital in Paktika, the worst-affected province.

In Kabul, hospitals more used to treating victims of war have opened their wards to earthquake victims.

Usually we admit only war related patients or patients in life threatening conditions, but in this case we decided to make an exception in order to support the Afghan people, said Stefano Sozza, the country director for Emergency Hospital, an Italian-funded surgical centre for war victims.

One of the patients, a woman from Gayan district of Paktika, whose name Reuters is withholding for security reasons, said nine members of her family had died in the earthquake.

Afghan men try to retrieve a car from the debris of damaged houses after the recent earthquake in Wor Kali village in the Barmal district of Paktika province, Afghanistan, June 25, 2022. REUTERS/Ali Khara

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"Just I remain," she said. "My legs are broken, we have nothing; we eat what the Taliban give us."

The disaster is a major test for Afghanistan's hardline Taliban rulers, who have been shunned by many foreign governments due to concerns about human rights since they seized control of the country last year.

Afghanistan has been cut off from much direct international assistance because of Western sanctions, deepening a humanitarian crisis in swaths of the country even before this week's earthquake.

The United Nations and several other countries have rushed aid to the affected areas, with more due to arrive over the coming days, and the Taliban appealed on Saturday for further aid shipments to help quake victims.

"We call on all humanitarian organizations to help the people," said Mohammad Amen Hozifa, a spokesperson for the Paktika provincial government.

China's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday the nation would provide humanitarian aid worth 50 million yuan ($7.5 million) to Afghanistan including tents, towels, beds and other materials to help those affected by the earthquake. read more

The UN's migration agency said on Saturday it had begun distributing thousands of emergency shelters and hygiene kits in affected areas.

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Reporting by Mohammad Yunus Yawar and Charlotte Greenfield in KabulAdditional reporting by Emma Farge in GenevaWriting by Alasdair PalEditing by Helen Popper

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Taliban appeal for more aid after deadly Afghanistan earthquake

GAYAN, Afghanistan (AP) A powerful earthquake struck a rugged, mountainous region of eastern Afghanistan early Wednesday, flattening stone and mud-brick homes and killing at least 1,000 people. The disaster posed a new test for Afghanistans Taliban rulers and relief agencies already struggling with the countrys multiple humanitarian crises.

The quake was Afghanistans deadliest in two decades, and officials said the toll could rise. An estimated 1,500 others were reported injured, the state-run news agency said.

The disaster inflicted by the 6.1-magnitude quake heaps more misery on a country where millions face increasing hunger and poverty and the health system has been crumbling since the Taliban retook power nearly 10 months ago amid the U.S. and NATO withdrawal. The takeover led to a cutoff of vital international financing, and most of the world has shunned the Taliban government.

In a rare move, the Talibans supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhundzadah, who almost never appears in public, pleaded with the international community and humanitarian organizations to help the Afghan people affected by this great tragedy and to spare no effort.

Residents in the remote area near the Pakistani border searched for victims dead or alive by digging with their bare hands through the rubble, according to footage shown by the Bakhtar news agency. It was not immediately clear if heavy rescue equipment was being sent, or if it could even reach the area.

At least 2,000 homes were destroyed in the region, where on average every household has seven or eight people living in it, said Ramiz Alakbarov, the U.N. deputy special representative to Afghanistan.

The full extent of the destruction among the villages tucked in the mountains was slow in coming to light. The roads, which are rutted and difficult to travel in the best of circumstances, may have been badly damaged, and landslides from recent rains made access even more difficult.

Rescuers rushed in by helicopter, but the relief effort could be hindered by the exodus of many international aid agencies from Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover last August. Moreover, most governments are wary of dealing directly with the Taliban.

In a sign of the muddled workings between the Taliban and the rest of the world, Alakbarov said the Taliban had not formally requested that the U.N. mobilize international search-and-rescue teams or obtain equipment from neighboring countries to supplement the few dozen ambulances and several helicopters sent in by Afghan authorities. Still, officials from multiple U.N. agencies said the Taliban were giving them full access to the area.

The quake was centered in Paktika province, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) southwest of the city of Khost, according to neighboring Pakistans Meteorological Department. Experts put its depth at just 10 kilometers (6 miles). Shallow earthquakes tend to cause more damage.

The European seismological agency said the quake was felt over 500 kilometers (310 miles) by 119 million people across Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

Footage from Paktika showed men carrying people in blankets to a waiting helicopter. Other victims were treated on the ground. One person could be seen receiving IV fluids while sitting in a plastic chair outside the rubble of his home, and still more were sprawled on gurneys. Some images showed residents picking through clay bricks and other rubble. Roofs and walls had caved in.

The death toll reported by the Bakhtar news agency was equal to that of a quake in 2002 in northern Afghanistan. Those are the deadliest since 1998, when an earthquake that was also 6.1 in magnitude and subsequent tremors in the remote northeast killed at least 4,500 people.

Wednesdays quake took place in a region prone to landslides, with many older, weaker buildings.

The fear is that the victims will increase further, also because many people could be trapped under collapsed buildings, said Stefano Sozza, Afghanistan country director for the Italian medical aid group Emergency, which sent seven ambulances and staff to areas near the quake zone.

More than 60% of Afghanistans population of 38 million already relies on international aid to survive.

Humanitarian agencies still operating in the country, including UNICEF, rushed supplies to the quake-stricken areas. And Pakistan said it would send food, tents, blankets and other essentials.

Obtaining more direct international help may be more difficult: Many countries, including the U.S., funnel humanitarian aid to Afghanistan through the U.N. and other such organizations to avoid putting money in the Talibans hands.

The quake will only add to the immense humanitarian needs in Afghanistan, and it really has to be all hands on deck to make sure that we really limit the suffering that families, that women and children are already going through, said Shelley Thakral, spokesperson for the the U.N. World Food Program in Kabul.

In the capital, Prime Minister Mohammad Hassan Akhund convened an emergency meeting at the presidential palace.

When such a big incident happens in any country, there is a need for help from other countries, said Sharafuddin Muslim, deputy minister of state for disaster management. It is very difficult for us to be able to respond to this huge incident.

That may prove difficult given the international isolation of Afghanistan under the Taliban, who were toppled from power by the U.S. in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. The newly restored government has issued a flurry of edicts curtailing the rights of women and girls and the news media in a turn back toward the Talibans harsh rule from the late 1990s.

This does add a lot to the daily burden of survival, the U.N.s Alakbarov said of the quake. We are not optimistic today.

___

Associated Press writers Rahim Faiez and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad and Jon Gambrell and Isabel DeBre in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

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Deadly earthquake in Afghanistan: LIve updates | AP News

About the size of the U.S. State of Texas, Afghanistan occupies an area of 647,230 km2 (249,900 sq mi) in Southern Asia.

As observed on the physical map of the country above, most of Afghanistan is a rugged, inhospitable mountainous landscape. More than 50% of the total land area lies above 6,500 ft. (2,000 m). It all culminates in the high peaks of the Hindu Kush, where extensions of the Pamir Mountains, Karakorum Mountains and the Himalayas all come together.

Afghanistan's highest point is Mt. Nowshak (marked on the map by a yellow triangle) which peaks at 24,446 ft. (7,485 m).

In the north, a fertile plain front the Anu Dar'ya River. In the south, below the mountains, rolling desert and scattered salt flats cover the land.

Afghanistan is drained by numerous rivers; significant ones include the Amu Dar'ya, Hari, Helmand, and the Kabul - directly east of the capital city, flowing down into the Indus River in Pakistan.

In 2009 Afghanistan designated a portion of the Hindu Kush Mountains, known as Band-e Amir, their first national park. The park contains six deep blue lakes, Band-e Gholaman, Band-e Qambar, Band-e Haibat, Band-e Panir, Band-e Pudina and Band-e Zulfiqar, all of which are separated by natural dams.

Afghanistan (officially, The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan) is divided into 34 administrative provinces (welayat). In alphabetical order, the 34 provinces are: Badakhshan, Badghis, Baghlan, Balkh, Bamyan, Daykundi, Farah, Faryab, Ghazni, Ghor, Helmand, Herat, Jowzjan, Kabul, Kandahar, Kapisa, Khost, Kunar, Kunduz, Laghman, Logar, Nangarhar, Nimroz, Nuristan, Paktika, Paktiya, Panjshir, Parwan, Samangan, Sar-e-Pul, Takhar, Uruzgan, Wardak and Zabul. These provinces are further subdivided into several districts.

Located in the east-central part of the country, Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Kabuls location at an altitude of 1790m, in a narrow valley of the Hindu Kush Mountains makes it one of the highest capitals in the world. Kabul is the only city in Afghanistan, with populations over a million. Kabul is the countrys largest urban center as well as the political, cultural and economic hub of Afghanistan.

Afghanistan is a landlocked mountainous country in Southern Asia. It is situated in the Northern and Eastern hemispheres of the Earth. It is bordered by six nations by Pakistan in the east and south; Iran in the west; Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north and China in the northeast.

Afghanistan Bordering Countries: Iran, Turkmenistan, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan.

Regional Maps: Map of Asia

This page was last updated on February 24, 2021

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Afghanistan Maps & Facts - World Atlas