14,263 Afghan families receive food aid

A total of 14,263 families in two Afghan provinces have received food assistance, the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development announced on Monday.

In northern Jawzjan province, 8,413 surveyed families received flour, oil, beans, salt and packages of food over the weekend, Xinhua news agency quoted the Ministry as saying in a statement.

In eastern Ghazni province, 5,850 families received similar food items in Giro district, it added.

The assistance was provided by the World Food Programme (WFP), and the provinces' Department of Rural Rehabilitation and Development assisted in conducting survey and distributing the aid, according to the statement.

Hundreds of thousands of needy families have received humanitarian aid in most of the country's 34 provinces in recent months.

Economic woes hit the impoverished country following the freezing of over $9 billion of the Afghan central bank's assets by the US, as well as a halt of funds by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in the wake of last year's Taliban takeover.