As the fighting escalates in Afghanistan and the Taliban take over province after province as U.S. forces leave, the United Nations Refugee Agency on Friday called for neighboring countries to open their borders to alleviate the humanitarian crisis.
''An inability to seek safety may risk innumerable civilian lives. UNHCR stands ready to help national authorities scale up humanitarian responses as needed,'' a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees told a briefing in Geneva.
The agency also called for a ''permanent ceasefire'' and negotiated settlement in the war-torn nation.
''The human toll of spiraling hostilities is immense,'' the spokesman said. ''The United Nations Assistance Mission has warned that without a significant de-escalation in violence, Afghanistan is on course to witness the highest ever number of documented civilian casualties in a single year since the UN’s records began.''
Since U.S. military forces began withdrawing from Afghanistan to meet a Sept. 11 deadline, Taliban forces have taken advantage of the power vacuum, taking the second largest city, Kandahar, Friday.
"We have no money to buy bread, or get some medicine for my child," Asadullah, a 35-year-old street vendor who fled northern Kunduz province after the Taliban set fire to his home, told the BBC.
"All of our home and belongings caught fire, so we came to Kabul and pray to God to help us," added Asadullah, who is now with his family in Kabul.
According to the publication, more than 1,000 civilians have been killed in the last month and thousands of refugees have trekked to the capital city of Kabul with some 72,000 sleeping on the streets.
''We are particularly worried about the impact of the conflict on women and girls. Some 80% of nearly 250,000 Afghans forced to flee since the end of May are women and children,'' the spokesman said. ''Nearly 400,000 were forced from their homes since the beginning of the year, joining 2.9 million Afghans already internally displaced across the country at the end of 2020.''
Fighting since the U.S. withdrawal after 20 years in the country has now expanded to 33 of its 34 provinces, the spokesman said.
''The overwhelming majority of Afghans forced to flee remain within the country, as close to their homes as fighting will allow,'' he said. ''Since the beginning of this year, nearly 120,000 Afghans have fled from rural areas and provincial towns to Kabul province.''