Afghans dying not just of hunger, but also cold

Kabul: Ravaged by decades of war, Taliban ruled Afghanistan is now battling a severe winter. With temperatures plummeting several notches below freezing point across Afghanistan, the people in the Afghan Taliban ruled country are facing a lot of hardships. At least 70 people have died in a wave of freezing temperatures sweeping Afghanistan, officials said Wednesday, as extreme weather compounds a humanitarian crisis in the poverty-stricken nation. More than half of the country’s 38 million people are facing hunger this winter, and nearly four million children are suffering from malnutrition, according to aid agencies. Last month, many NGOs still working in Afghanistan suspended their operations in protest over a Taliban government order banning women from working with humanitarian groups, except in the health sector.