'The Coldest In Recent Years': Dozens Killed By Cold Snap In Afghanistan

Children at a camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) shovel snow near their tents in the Nahr-e-Shahi district of Balkh Province, near Mazar-i-Sharif, on January 17. Kabul and several other provinces have seen record-low temperatures since January 10, with Ghor in the central region reaching the lowest reading of -33 Celsius (-27 Fahrenheit).

 

More than half of Afghanistan's 38 million people are facing hunger, and nearly 4 million children are suffering from malnutrition, according to aid agencies.

"This winter is by far the coldest in recent years," Mohammad Nasim Muradi, the head of Afghanistan's meteorology office, told AFP.
 

"We expect the cold wave to continue for another week or more," Muradi said.


 

Afghan men warm themselves around a bonfire at a market in Mazar-i-Sharif on January 14.

Afghan girls collect firewood for their homes in the Kuz Kunar district of Nangarhar Province on January 16.


 

These men received treatment for frostbite in Herat after being rescued while attempting to cross illegally into Iran.

A view of the frozen Kokcha River in Fayzabad in Badakhshan Province