Nearly 450,000 people fled conflict in their home cities and towns in Afghanistan during 2017, the UN said in a report published on Tuesday.
A total of 445,335 were displaced in the country over the course of the year, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.
In 2017, the number was more than 660,000.
With war intensifying across the country, Afghan security forces are increasingly overwhelmed and demoralised, contributing to the decision by the U.S. and NATO to increase the number of international troops in Afghanistan earlier this year.
In the eastern province of Nangarhar, where the Taliban and Islamic State extremist organisations are fighting, about 123,000 people fled their homes during 2017.
OCHA said earlier in December that 900,000 internally displaced people are currently living in camps in “inhuman conditions.’’
Afghanistan was re-classified from a post-conflict country to one with an active conflict by the UN in a strategic review in August.
