At least 20 people were killed and more than 300 others injured in a late-night earthquake that struck northern Afghanistan on Monday, according to Taliban officials. Most of the damage has been inflicted to the northern province of Samangan.
Sharafat Zaman Amar, a spokesperson for the Taliban’s Ministry of Public Health, said in a video message that emergency medical teams had been dispatched to the affected areas in Samangan Province, and that the death toll was expected to change as search and rescue efforts continued.
The Afghan Red Crescent Society reported a slightly lower death toll of 19 fatalities, and said the quake injured at least 320 people.
The 6.3-magnitude quake struck shortly after 1 a.m. local time on Monday in the Nakhchir district of Samangan, according to the Afghan Red Crescent. Tremors were reportedly felt across several northern provinces and in the capital, Kabul.
Earlier reports from the Taliban-run national television station placed the death toll at 10, with around 260 people injured — figures that were later revised by other agencies.
Videos circulating on social media appeared to show damage in rural areas and landslides triggered by the quake. Users also reported that a section of the Kabul–Balkh highway near the Tashqurghan Pass had been temporarily closed due to a rockslide caused by the earthquake.
Afghanistan is located in a seismically active region and frequently experiences deadly earthquakes. On August 31, 2025, a powerful earthquake in the eastern province of Kunar killed more than 2,000 people. In October 2023, a series of powerful tremors struck western Herat Province, killing more than 1,000 people and leveling entire villages.
The latest earthquake comes as the country continues to grapple with a worsening humanitarian crisis and widespread poverty. Many homes in rural areas are made of mud brick and lack the structural resilience to withstand even moderate seismic activity.
