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10.43am BST

The United Nations has issued an urgent appeal for aid for some seven million Afghan farmers in the war-ravaged nation facing the threat of severe drought, AFP reports.

Covid-19 has further squeezed agricultural workers in the country, which is now controlled by the Taliban after they toppled the US-backed government this month.

Related: Afghanistan could start to run out of food by September, UN warns

10.32am BST

Mursal Rasa Jamili, a 23-year-old final-year university student, English teacher and journalist in Kabul, was evacuated to the UK with her two sisters. In this diary, she explains what happened during her last days in Afghanistan.

Related: ‘I feel helpless, useless and hopeless’: diary of an Afghan evacuee

As we were on the plane, I started talking with families around me. One person said: “I wanted my children to grow up with our own traditions but I could not let them die. So I had to take them out.”

The UK is safe and I love it but I am far from my motherland. I really wish we were lucky enough to have a safe and secure country, where we could stay and work to improve it.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3zqTZ4T