43,000 People Directly Affected By Earthquakes In Herat, Says UN

It has been said that Yousofi had been living in Iran for some time and was recently "deported" to Afghanistan.

The motive behind his detention is not yet clear. However, earlier organisations and reliable media outlets had accused the Taliban of arresting, torturing and killing former security forces members of Afghanistan.

In September, Volker Türk, the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner, stated that despite the Taliban's declaration of a general amnesty, extrajudicial killings, torture, and arbitrary arrests persist in Afghanistan.

Türk further emphasised that the UN has documented human rights violations committed against former government employees and security forces members.

On September 11, durning a meeting of the Human Rights Council of the UN, he said that with Taliban’s takeover of power, the group constituted “a systematic assault on the rights and freedoms of the population, which particularly targets women and girls”.

OCHA stressed that the support will focus on delivering both immediate and long-term relief to affected families.

In a report on Monday, OCHA stressed on providing immediate assistance to address the urgent needs of earthquake victims, particularly in preparation for the winter season. These essential requirements include temporary shelter, winter clothing, warm blankets, and fuel.

Explaining the plan to support the earthquake victims, OCHA highlighted the significant role of international donors in providing long-term support to the affected families.

According to OCHA, the earthquakes in Herat province have affected more than 1.6 million people, of which 114,000 people are in need of humanitarian aid.

The organisation has reported a death toll of 1,480 due to the Herat earthquake, along with 1,950 individuals injured.

Furthermore, 289 villages have sustained damage with severe destruction reported from many of them. The Zindajan and Injil districts have experienced the most significant impact.

Zindajan district has witnessed the destruction of over 3,330 houses.

In addition to houses, schools, health facilities and other infrastructures have also been affected by the earthquake.

In a press conference on Sunday, he warned that not only Afghans, but also immigrants from other countries who do not have legal documents of stay in Pakistan will be deported.

According to a new programme, the Pakistani government has set a deadline, requiring immigrants lacking official residency documents to depart the country by the end of November. Based on the plan, more than 1.7 million Afghan refugees and migrants are supposed to be deported from Pakistan.

In recent weeks, there have been numerous reports of the arrest and forced deportation of Afghan immigrants from this country.

International human rights organisations have urged Pakistan to revoke the decision to deport Afghan refugees and migrants, as according to them, this decision could jeopardise numerous lives.

On the occasion of World Food Day, the UN agency said that Afghans need urgent support.

On social platform X, WFP wrote, "The Herat Earthquake is yet another disaster on top of an already dire humanitarian crisis.”

World Food Day is marked across the globe on October 16.

Earlier, WFP had warned about the increasing spread of hunger across the country and had requested urgent financial assistance for its operations in Afghanistan.

Nonetheless, on Monday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that the lives of more than 43,350 people have been affected by the recent earthquakes in western Afghanistan and they require urgent assistance.

According to sources, the cleric, who is a supporter of the group, had been detained temporarily by the Taliban.

Last week, pictures of Mawlawi Fazl Menallah were published, which showed him sexually abusing two teenage girls.

According to sources, one of the teenage girls who the pro-Taliban cleric assaulted and photographed was the daughter of a soldier of the previous Afghan government.

According to local sources, Mawlawi Fazl Menallah was one of the Taliban members during the previous reign of the Taliban government. He does not have an official position in the current Taliban government, but the cleric supports the group.

The published photos show that the cleric took photos and videos of himself with his mobile phone while sexually assaulting the teenage girls.

Following the broadcast of these images and the reactions they provoked in the media and social networks, the Taliban arrested Mullah Fazl Menallah, but he was released three days later.

This dual behaviour of the Taliban group with those accused of moral crimes in Afghanistan has garnered headlines many times.

Last month, the court of this group acquitted Mullah Ahmad Akhund, the appointed director of the group for the Electricity Directorate in Kabul. It was preceded by a video showing Mullah Ahmad sleeping with one of his young bodyguards.