Funding cuts to Afghanistan obstruct earthquake response

By Charlotte Greenfield

KABUL (Reuters) -The shrinking of funding for Afghanistan, led by U.S. aid cuts, was hampering the response on Monday to a powerful earthquake in the east, with dozens of clinics closed and a helicopter out of use, humanitarian officials said.

The magnitude 6 tremor hit overnight, levelling villages, killing at least 800 people and injuring more than 2,800 in remote mountainside areas.

The ruling Taliban administration and aid officials have a daunting task to rescue…