UN: 80% of Afghan Refugees Fleeing Taliban Are Women and Children

The ongoing crisis in Afghanistan has "all the hallmarks of a humanitarian catastrophe", World Food Programme (WFP) spokesman Tomson Phiri said at a press briefing at the UN in Geneva on Friday.

The Taliban completed their sweep of the country's south on Friday as they took four more provincial capitals in a lightning offensive that is gradually encircling Kabul, just weeks before the U.S. is set to officially end its two-decade war.

In just the last 24 hours, the country's second - and third-largest cities - Herat in the west and Kandahar in the south - have fallen to the insurgents as has the capital of the southern Helmand province, where American, British and NATO forces fought some of the bloodiest battles of the conflict.

During the press briefing on Afghanistan, WFP spokesperson Phiri said the conflict "has accelerated much faster than we all anticipated".

Shabia Mantoo, a spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said Afghanistan is also set to witness "the highest ever number of documented civilian casualties in a single year since records began".

The UNHCR is particularly concerned the about the impact the conflict is having on women and girls, who make up 80% of those roughly 250,000 who had fled the country since the end of May.

"This is a staggering statistic," Mantoo told journalists, before adding "the situation needs attention, these people need support".

A joint UN human rights office (OHCHR) and the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) report published in July found more women and children were killed in the first half of this year than in any year since records began.

"Since the beginning of the year, nearly 120,000 Afghans have fled from rural areas and provincial towns to Kabul province," Mantoo said.

Fadela Chaib, World Health Organization spokesperson, said a major concern for her organisation is trauma, "aggravated by the recent escalation in violence".

"The trauma cases that we see at health facilities, we don't know what's happening in the communities, have increased by 30%," Chaib said.

Jens Laerke, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs spokesperson, said "The deal that we have in Afghanistan is with the Afghan people, with the civilians, and we are there to stay and help them."

Laerke said internally displaced persons who have to flee to major urban areas typically find family and friends, though this is not the case this time, with people sleeping in the open.

"We are assessing their needs. We are in contact with them," he said.

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