Kabul: More than 700 trucks carrying international humanitarian aid arrived in Afghanistan via Pakistan despite a near-total closure of the land border between the two countries following clashes in October, the United Nations said Sunday.

The convoy was carrying "food and other critical humanitarian items," Olga Cherevko, spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Afghanistan, told AFP.

United Nations Resident & Humanitarian Coordinator for Pakistan Mo Yahya said on X that "seven hundred and twenty four trucks of humanitarian cargo have crossed into Afghanistan through Torkham, reaching families who need it most".

He also thanked Islamabad and "all those who made it possible to keep the humanitarian lifeline open".

Acute child malnutrition has reached critical levels in Afghanistan this year, the World Food Program (WFP) warned in early August.

Following deadly earthquakes last year, several climate-related disasters this year and the return of millions of Afghans from Iran and Pakistan since 2023, nearly 14 million Afghans are facing acute hunger, according to WFP.

Fortified biscuits destined for Afghan schoolchildren that were arriving from Pakistan earlier this year had to be rerouted through Iran before the war there also disrupted that route.

The biscuits eventually reached Afghanistan months later after a land and sea journey passing through countries including Jordan, Turkey and Azerbaijan.

International Humanitarian Aid

More than 700 humanitarian aid trucks enter Afghanistan from Pakistan