Millions of Afghans Go Hungry as Winter Cold Bites

AFP/APP
Pule Alam: Khurma had to borrow her neighbor’s shoes to walk to Pul-e Alam city to collect a cash handout being given to the growing number of vulnerable Afghans who are struggling to survive the winter.
The 45-year-old widow waited in her threadbare blue burqa to receive 3,200 Afghanis ($45) from the UN World Food Programme (WFP) in the eastern Afghan city, where temperatures can drop well below freezing.
“We are desperate,” the mother-of-six told AFP. “When we can’t find any bread, we go to bed on an empty stomach.”
Thousands of people are still sleeping in tents in Herat province after successive earthquakes in October destroyed or rendered uninhabitable 31,000 homes.