How Taliban’s isolation makes Afghanistan earthquake response even harder

Taliban's isolation will hamper quake effort, experts warnHumanitarian aid is trickling in, no rescue backup yetLonger-term reconstruction needs likely to go unfulfilledCalls grow for West to give Taliban access to cashSome nations demand improvements in Afghan human rights first

A man carries a sack in an area affected by an earthquake in Gayan, Afghanistan, June 23, 2022. Picture taken June 23, 2022. REUTERS/Ali Khara

Charlotte Greenfield and Mohammad Yunus Yawar

A devastating earthquake in eastern Afghanistan, which killed at least 1,000 people and flattened homes in remote villages close to the Pakistani border, poses the biggest challenge yet for the Taliban since they seized power nearly a year ago.