Taliban urge rescuers ‘not to hold back’ on Afghan quake relief

The Taliban on Tuesday urged aid agencies to push ahead in delivering emergency relief supplies after a major earthquake hit remote mountainous regions of northern Afghanistan and Pakistan, killing at least 300 people.

Relief groups’ efforts to assess the damage were hindered by an unstable security situation that has left much of the affected areas unsafe for international aid workers and government troops.

But the Taliban, which have stepped up their Islamist insurgency against the western-backed government in Kabul this year, indicated they would not stand in the way of aid efforts.

“The Islamic Emirate calls on our good-willed countrymen and charitable organisations to not hold back in providing shelter, food and medical supplies to the victims,”

“And it similarly orders its mujahideen in the affected areas to lend their complete help.” the group said in a condolence message to quake victims.

Authorities confirmed 228 deaths in Pakistan while in Afghanistan, the death toll had climbed to more than 80 with about t 4,000 houses and compounds destroyed .

The toll could climb as road and communications links are restored to isolated villages as a harsh winter sets in across the rugged Hindu Kush mountains where the earthquake struck , worsening the plight of thousands left homeless.

“We have insufficient food and other aid, it has been raining for four days and the weather is very cold,” said Abdul Habib Sayed Khil, chief of police in Kunar, one of the worst-hit provinces, where 42 people were confirmed dead.

In the same vein, NATO officials in Kabul, the capital, said they were helping Afghan security forces plan relief operations.

Similarly, in Pakistan, where landslides and heavy rain and snow over the weekend had already left thousands of tourists stranded in mountainous areas of the north, the country’s well-equipped military was heavily involved in relief efforts.

Military spokesman General Asim Bajwa said assessment teams were still surveying damage and troops were working to help reopen the Karakoram highway linking Pakistan to China, after it was blocked by landslides.

Monday’s initial quake of magnitude 7.5 was followed by seven aftershocks, of intensity ranging as high as 4.8, causing landslide in many communities across the region