The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that $603.5 million in funding is urgently needed to address vulnerable areas in Afghanistan this winter.

The UN agency said Wednesday that the funding is needed for aid between October and December 2024.

OCHA also said that $104 million is needed for "initial pre-positioning requirements" in the first three months of 2025.

The agency added that 171 districts are high priority, 227 districts are medium priority and three districts are low priority.

OCHA said that the dangers of winter are high and the level of vulnerability is high, and that people are not provided with enough services.

The agency also said it faces a $2.3 billion shortfall in humanitarian funding for Afghanistan in 2024.

OCHA had requested $3.06 billion in funding this year to help the people of Afghanistan, but says it has received only 25 percent of that funding so far.

The organization announced that 23.7 million people in Afghanistan need humanitarian aid this year, but they prioritized 17 million people.

The Minister of Borders and Tribal Affairs said at a meeting on Wednesday in Kabul that the launch of construction of the Afghanistan section of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project was a great achievement for the country.

Noorullah Noori, who welcomed the launch of the project, said that the pipeline will be important in the economic prosperity of Afghanistan and the region.

Noor stated that the Islamic Emirate has made many efforts for the improvement of Afghanistan's economy over the past three years, and the people can see its positive results now.

Meanwhile, some participants at the meeting said that TAPI can create jobs for many and will help reduce poverty in the long term.

“This big project strengthens the trust between countries and plays a great role in improving the security of the region because common economic benefits are created, and naturally, countries try to make this project a success,” said one participant.

“I hope that the economic situation of Afghanistan and the Afghan nation will improve day by day and we will witness a prosperous, dignified and victorious Afghanistan,” said another participant.

The TAPI project is a major project that will eventually earn Afghanistan millions of dollars a year.

Afghanistan’s ministry of education said Wednesday that currently there are over 1,4 million new students enrolled in schools across the country.

Officials, delivering their annual report, said that a total of 1,445 million new students were enrolled in public and private schools bringing the total to over 10 million in the country.

Girls schools - above grade 6 - remained closed however.

According to officials, 316 new schools have been established, more than 16 million school books have been printed and distributed in the provinces, and they have sent out about 303,000 copies of the 12th grade graduation certificates in the past year.

Officials added that last year more than 54,000 teachers were recruited and for next year one million new students will be enrolled and 150 new schools will be established.