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The UN estimates that 260,000 Afghans have fled their homes this year because of the drought
A deadly drought in Afghanistan is causing a humanitarian crisis that has displaced more people this year than the war between the government and the Taliban. The BBC Secunder Kermani reports from Herat.
Shadi Mohammed, 70, cries with tears as he walks around the makeshift camp on the outskirts of the city of Herat, in the west of the country, where he lives with his family.
"We are thirsty and hungry, we have taken as little as we could with ourselves, but we have lost most of it on the way, now we have nothing left, eight of us live in this little tent, "he says.
"My wife and my brother are dead, half of our children are here, the other half has been left behind."
Mr. Mohammed is among some 260,000 people who have been forced to leave their homes in northern and western Afghanistan due to a severe drought in the region.
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The drought adds to the misery in the country where violence has increased since 2014, when international forces officially ended their combat mission.
The Taliban would now control more territory in Afghanistan than ever since the US invasion, which forced them out of power in 2001.
But the UN says that this year, the drought has displaced more Afghans than even the Taliban conflict with the government.
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Drought adds to the misery of Afghans already suffering from war
Qadir Assemy of the United Nations World Food Program (UNWFP) is helping coordinate relief operations in Herat, which have seen the influx of people flee their homes.
"It's very difficult because of the scale of the disaster," he told the BBC.
The UN is allocating $ 34.6 million to help the 2.2 million people who would have been affected by the drought.
At present, UNDP is distributing money so that people can buy food.
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AFP
Many Afghans think their political leaders are too detached from the problems they face
Outside of a registration center, many seem desperate.
A woman sitting with four young children tells me that she recently arrived from the province of Faryab in the north of the country.
"If we had had money, we would never have come here, our bad luck brought us here," she says.
"There was no rain for more than a year, everything was dry, we did not even have water to give to our children. there was fighting between the Taliban and the army – it was chaos. "
Others said they were forced to sell their livestock or borrow money just to survive. Agriculture is one of the main sources of income of the country.
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Next winter could worsen the situation in refugee camps in Herat
The country is currently preparing for delayed parliamentary elections scheduled for 20 October.
But many Afghans complain that their political leaders are too detached from the problems they face.
The tens of thousands of inhabitants of Herat certainly have a more pressing problem: the imminent arrival of the cold winter months.
Mr. Assemy believes that the cold is a "major concern" because it seems unlikely that displaced people can return home in the coming months.
"The weather will be very mild, and this population will not be able to survive in tents," he says.
"We have not seen a disaster of such magnitude in the last 18 years."
