The World Food Programme says hundreds of thousands of people in southern Afghanistan need urgent assistance because of a severe drought in the area. Mr Sackett was speaking after a three-day visit to the stricken provinces of Zabul and Kandahar last week. He said the WFP planned to feed more than 400,000 people for the next 12 months, distributing some 30,000 tonnes of food. However, he said they would only be able to feed the most needy. Nomads suffering The drought-affected area is unlikely to receive any rain before November.
Wells are either dry or their water is receded to an extremely deep level.
In a sign of the worsening situation, hundreds of thousands of nomads have travelled north from drought-ridden winter grazing areas around the southern city of Kandahar. But the nomads' summer pastures have also failed, and their flocks are being wiped out. Fields that should be ripe with grain at this time of year have turned yellow. Animal carcasses are now lying scattered along the roads. This year, the situation could be much worse.