The number of deaths from the devastating earthquakes that struck Afghanistan have surged past 2,400 even as immediate international aid is yet to reach the country due to governments wary of dealing directly with the Taliban.

• In a press conference on Sunday, Janan Sayeeq, spokesman for the Taliban’s ministry of disasters, said the death toll from two 6.3-magnitude earthquakes had increased to 2,445, making it one of the deadliest earthquakes in the history of Afghanistan.
• Mr Sayeeq also revised down the number of injured to “more than 2,000”. Earlier, he had claimed 9,240 people had been injured in the tremors that struck the Herat province.
• While the world rushed to send aid after earthquakes rocked Syria, Turkey and Morocco this year and killed thousands, the Taliban official said “many are still trapped” under the rubble in Afghanistan days after the tremors struck one of the world’s poorest countries.