Medical supplies in Afghanistan will run out in a few days after Thursday’s terror attack used up much of what was remaining, accelerating the country’s humanitarian crisis, a World Health Organization official said Friday.
Afghanistan’s humanitarian needs are “enormous and growing,” Rick Brennan, emergency director of the WHO said during a press briefing.
Mr. Brennan said the country is in critical need of trauma kits, emergency supplies for hospitals, and medicines to treat chronic malnutrition in children.
Trauma supplies that were already dwindling before the twin bomb attacks at the Kabul airport are now in dangerously low supply after being used to treat victims, Mr. Brennan said.
An affiliate of the Islamic State, known as ISIS-K, claimed responsibility for two blasts that killed at least 90 Afghans and 13 U.S. Service members.
Mr. Brennan said security concerns at the Kabul airport make it nearly impossible to fly humanitarian aid into the country.
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“Right now because of security concerns and other operational considerations, Kabul airport is not going to be an option for the next week at least,” he said.
WHO is working with Pakistan to establish an “air bridge” to bring supplies into Afghanistan. That plan, however, is complicated by the lack of a functioning civil aviation authority in Afghanistan, he said.
“But we are working with Pakistan particularly in the context of Mazar-i-Sharif airport,” he said. “Because they can work with contacts on the ground so that all the necessary steps to land an aircraft, to land a cargo aircraft, can be put in place,” he said.
• This story is based in part on wire service reports.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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