| ASSOCIATED
PRESS
ISLAMABAD,
Pakistan (AP) -- Thousands of Afghans, fleeing a bitter
civil war in northern Afghanistan, have been hit by diseases,
including measles and malaria, an international aid group
said Monday.
The
Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, a key international aid
group operating in Afghanistan's war-ravaged northern region,
issued a statement in neighboring Pakistan saying hundreds
of Afghan children died of measles earlier this year.
A fresh
outbreak of measles has been reported among the estimated
80,000 Afghans fleeing fighting in the northern Takhar province,
according to the statement.
Refugees
also are suffering from malaria, diarrhea and malnutrition
because of polluted water and poor sanitation, it said.
The
Taliban, in a string of victories in recent weeks, captured
most of Takhar province, located on Afghanistan's northern
frontier with the Central Asian state of Tajikistan. But
the opposition said Sunday it had taken back two strategic
districts.
Emergency
medical supplies have been sent to Faizabad, the opposition-controlled
capital of northeastern Badakhshan province, the Swedish
Committee statement said. The group operates 40 clinics
in the provinces of Takhar, Badakhshan, Kunduz and Baghlan.
The
Swedish Committee said it will begin vaccinating children
against measles. It hopes to reach about 30,000 children.
More
than 900 people, mostly children, died in a measles epidemic
in northern Afghanistan last winter, the World Health Organization
reported.
The
Taliban Deputy Health Minister Sher Abbas Stanikzai asked
the international community on Monday to help fight diseases
in Afghanistan.
The
Taliban and the United Nations have launched a program to
combat malaria, measles and diarrhea, he told reporters
in the Afghan capital Kabul.
"But
we need more foreign assistance to fight these diseases
effectively," he said.
Afghanistan,
devastated by 21 years of civil war, is one of the world's
poorest countries.
The
Taliban rule more than 95 percent of Afghanistan, which
is roughly the size of Texas. They are sharply criticized
for their strict interpretation of Islam.
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