PHNOM PENH: A German aid group Johanniter International Assistance on Monday said that as many as 200,000 nomadic herders, who stopped receiving funding from the donors, in Afghanistan are said to be running out of food and stranded with their starving animals after Pakistan closed the border which deprived them the access to pasture lands.
There are about 2.4 million who usually migrate in winter from eastern and central Afghanistan to graze their herds in frontier areas inside Pakistan.
This year, Pakistan has closed its border crossings due to the
tensions with its western neighbour.
Afghanistan had alleged Pakistan of not taking action against the Taliban after two attacks in January that killed hundreds in Kabul.
“Now they are pretty close to being without food,” French charity Action Against Hunger country director Kinga Komorowska told the Thomson Reuters Foundation from Kabul. She maintained that her charity had approached two major aid donors, which she declined to name, with requests for assistance.
“They rejected it, which was disappointing,” she said. One donor said there was not enough data despite the needs assessment while another said the situation “fell outside its mandate”, Kinga added.
With many animals being sold, Kuchis, according to some estimates only earn $175 per sheep or goat, down from $250 last year, the assessment found.
Although Pakistan had closed its border multiple times before too, but unlike this year, had allowed to follow their traditional grazing routes, said Komorowska.
In recent years Pakistan has deported Afghans who sought shelter there during decades of war and is currently building a
a fence along the border.