The United Nations (UN) today announced that the Taliban has suspended all polio vaccination campaigns in Afghanistan. UN agencies said that they were notified about the suspension just days before the scheduled September immunisation campaign, though no official reason was provided. Representatives from the Taliban-led government did not comment on the situation immediately.
Over the past three years, the number of polio cases has risen in the country, with the virus spreading to provinces that had remained free of the disease for an extended period.
Afghanistan and Pakistan remain the only two countries in the world where the spread of the paralysing and potentially fatal disease has not been eradicated.