Afghanistan seeks drought aid

Water is scarce in the southern provinces

Afghanistan's ruling Taleban have appealed to the international community to send emergency aid for thousands of famine-hit people in the country's southern provinces.

Taleban spokesman Abdul Haye Mutmaen said thousands of people are facing starvation in Kandahar, Helmund and Urzugan provinces following a prolonged drought.

"They may die if aid is not rushed," he said, in a statement carried by the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press.

"We appeal to the United Nations and non-governmental aid agencies to help the famine-stricken people immediately."

He said the Taleban authorities had been supplying people daily with food and water, but these efforts were insufficient to avert the "looming tragedy".

Locusts

In another development, swarms of locusts have descended on drought-hit wheat crop and fruit orchards in the northern province of Baghlan.

A spokesman for the opposition forces controlling northern Afghanistan also called on the international community for urgent assistance in dealing with the infestation.

Asim Sohail said: "Immediate steps for their (locust) annihilation are required before the locusts transfer to other areas."

Baghlan is one of the major cereal- and fruit-producing areas of Afghanistan.