GENEVA (Reuters) – More than 40,000 people wounded during fighting in Afghanistan have been treated since June at health facilities supported by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), including 7,600 so far this month, the aid agency said on Tuesday.
During the first 10 days of August ICRC treated 4,042 wounded, meaning that more than 3,500 were treated in the past week alone as the Taliban captured large swathes of territory including the capital, Kabul, which fell to the insurgents without a fight.
ICRC director-general Robert Mardini voiced relief that “devastating urban warfare” was avoided in Kabul when the Taliban fighters advanced into the city.
“Our medical teams and physical rehabilitation centres expect to receive patients for months and years to come as they recover from wounds from explosive devices that litter the country, many of them newly laid in recent weeks,” he said in a statement.
“It is heartbreaking to see our wards filled with children and young men and women who have lost limbs,” he added.
The ICRC, which has worked in Afghanistan since 1987, deploys some 1,800 national and international staff, including surgical teams, spokesman Florian Seriex said.
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
