Afghanistan's Taliban government says a powerful earthquake in the country's north has killed at least 20 people and left hundreds injured.

Afghan officials say a powerful, 6.3 magnitude earthquake that shook northern Afghanistan overnight killed at least 20 people

Survivors of a powerful earthquake in northern Afghanistan are digging through the rubble of their homes after spending a bitterly cold night outdoors.

The death toll from an earthquake in northern Afghanistan is climbing, and hundreds of families have lost their homes as the harsh winter arrives.

Taliban officials said the death toll could rise as rescue teams arrive and assess the damage from the quake, which struck near one of Afghanistan’s largest cities.

Relations between the two neighbors hit a low point this month, with fighting killing people on both sides of the border. At issue is a rise in militancy in Pakistan since the Taliban took over Afghanistan.

Afghan-American Sayeda Qader leads The Kalaam Project, a humanitarian relief team providing emergency aid to local Afghans – including after August’s devastating quake.

The total area of land in Afghanistan on which opium poppy is grown shrank 20% this year, according to a U.N. estimate issued on Thursday, a further drop since farming of the raw material for heroin collapsed in 2023 after the Taliban banned it.