Rains Bring Misery To Afghanistan

Flash floods roared through southern Afghanistan killing at least 30 people and leaving another 300 people injured, officials of the ruling Taliban militia and aid workers said Sunday.

Relentless rains over the past week caused severe flooding in several poor farming villages in the provinces of Kandahar, Helmand, Zabul, and Nimroz.

"Three districts in Kandahar were completely inundated this week, killing 20 people and destroying dozens of homes," said Ahmed, a Taliban spokesman in Kandahar contacted by telephone.

He said at least 10 more people died in neighboring provinces when floods washed away roads and destroyed the area's few communications systems.

"The people there are experiencing great hardships," he said.

The skies cleared on Saturday and Ahmed said, "we are not expecting any further casualties."

United Nations officials in neighboring Pakistan say they have received reports that about 300 people have been hospitalized with injuries suffered in the flash floods.

Scores more people are suffering from respiratory and stomach ailments, the result of inadequate shelter and clean drinking water, the officials said.

The United Nations, Red Cross, and other foreign aid agencies working in southwest Afghanistan are pooling supplies to provide temporary shelter, food, water purification kits, and rehydration salts.

War-ravaged Afghanistan has been battered by natural disasters this winter. Last month's magnitude-6.1 earthquake in northeast Takhar province killed at least 5,000 people and left as many as 30,000 homeless.

Bad weather, poor roads, and civil war conspired to delay emergency aid supplies from reaching quake victims in the isolated mountain area for almost a week.

Another tragedy is the severe food shortages in central Bamyan province, creating another logistical nightmare for aid agencies.

The Taliban, which controls about 85 percent of Afghanistan, is battling a northern-based alliance of opposition forces that control the remaining 15 percent of the country.

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