Kabul airport curbs blocking medical, food supplies to Afghanistan: WHO
More than 500 tonnes of medical supplies including surgical equipment and severe malnutrition kits due to be delivered to Afghanistan this week are stuck because of Kabul airport restrictions, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday.
Aid agencies say it is critical that medical and food supplies reach some 300,000 people displaced in Afghanistan over the past two months amid advances by Islamist Taliban insurgents that culminated in their capture of Kabul on August 15.
Nearly 18.5 million people – half the population – rely on aid and the humanitarian needs are expected to grow due to drought. But the closure of Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport to commercial flights has held up deliveries, WHO regional emergency director Dr Richard Brennan told Reuters.
