Snow buried cars in Salang, a mountain pass connecting Kabul to the north of the country, said a statement from the ministry.[break]
"Since Monday afternoon until now around 1,500 people who were stranded by the avalanche have been rescued," the statement said.
"Around 70 people are injured, and 28 others have been martyred."
But the public health ministry put the death toll at 15. Ten people died when an avalanche hit their bus and pushed it hundreds of metres (yards) into the pass, it said.
"Five others died when their car was buried by the falling snow," ministry spokesman Ahmad Farid Rahid told AFP.
Another 65 people were injured, he said, adding that most had been evacuated to the nearby Chaharikar city hospital.
Heavy snows have hit many parts of mountainous Afghanistan in recent days, following months of drought that raised fears for the country´s vital agricultural sector.
Authorities said Monday that at least 20 people died in snow and rains mostly in southern and southwestern regions.
Hundreds of mud-brick houses were destroyed in floods caused by heavy rain in southern Kandahar province.
The defence ministry announced that military helicopters evacuated dozens of villagers stranded in flood-hit villages outside the city of Kandahar.
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