Sixty people died and 23 others were injured due to heavy snowfall, rain and freezing weather across Afghanistan over the past three weeks, Mullah Janan Saeq, a spokesman for the national disaster authority, has said.

An Afghan vendor pushes his cart laden with dry fruits along a street amid snowfall in Herat city, Afghanistan, February 29, 2024. /CFP

"Over 1,600 houses have been either partially or completely destroyed and more than 177,000 cattle have died due to the chilly weather during this period," Saeq said Wednesday in a videotape released on social media platform X.

The national disaster authority, in collaboration with national and international organizations, has provided foodstuffs, non-foodstuffs and cash to over 22,400 affected families in different parts of the country, the spokesman stated.

Extreme cold weather and snowfall have swept through parts of Afghanistan recently, with the temperature dropping to minus 30 degrees Celsius in some areas.

(Cover image via CFP)