UN: More Than 125,000 Displaced By Afghan Conflict This Year

Internally displaced Afghan children stand inside their shelter at a refugee camp in Kabul.

The United Nations says that more than 125,000 people have been forced to leave their homes since the beginning of the year because of the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan.

Data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) showed that more than 22,000 people were displaced in the past two weeks alone.

The regions most affected were northern and northeastern Afghanistan, which accounted for 45 percent of the displacement, followed by 27 percent in the south, 9 percent in the west, and 12 percent in eastern and central Afghanistan.

OCHA said that the data also showed a 28 percent decrease compared to the same period last year.

Among the reasons for that decline, OCHA analysts said that some of the fighting is continuing in the same areas as last year, meaning many have already fled.

Rising poverty also means that some no longer have the resources to move large families to other places, OCHA said.

With reporting by dpa