Food aid for desperate Afghans

The United Nations is distributing food in northern Afghanistan where people have been eating plants and roots to survive.

The World Food Programme says it's given out four hundred tonnes of wheat and high energy biscuits to Afghans in Dara-i-Souf in the province of Samangan.

A WFP official described the situation as very desperate.

The area is held by forces loyal to the opposition commander, Ahmad Shah Masood, and is surrounded by Taleban troops who control most of Afghanistan.

Many Afghans are struggling to survive because of an upsurge in fighting and a long-running drought.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service