International aid experts have begun a survey of remote north-eastern Afghanistan as local "commanders" today warned thousands faced starvation due to a severe drought.
Mr Mohammad Suhail Asem, a spokesman for commander Ahmad Shah Masood who controls Badakhshan province, said the situation would deteriorate before the wheat harvest around July.
"The fatalities could go higher as the local wheat harvest is unlikely to come before the next four months. The situation is very alarming," he said.
Last week he claimed more than 1,000 people had died in the past three months due to famine that had affected 800,000 people. UN officials have said the numbers sound exaggerated.
Badakhshan is the last province under the total control of Mr Masood, the former defence minister who is fighting the dominant Taliban militia.
Senior UN officials are understood to have visited the area to check reports of widespread deaths. Mr Asem said three teams including local officials, the World Food Programme, plus several foreign non-governmental organisations had started surveying the affected villages.
The UN has warned that "millions" of Afghans face famine this year due to the worst drought in living memory which has affected more than half the country's 22 million people.
The WFP last week launched an appeal for a $76 million emergency operation in Afghanistan to help 3.8 million people for one year.
AFP