Afghan villagers face hunger as fighting cuts northern roads

MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Villagers in the northern Afghan province of Faryab have appealed to the government for help after being cut off from food supplies for weeks by a Taliban blockade, local people and officials said.

Faryab, in the far northwest of Afghanistan, has seen a surge in fighting this year as the Taliban have battled both government forces and Islamic State militants for control of the zone's valuable transit routes into neighbouring Turkmenistan.