On 15 March, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Ramiz Alakbarov revealed that at least 23 million people in Afghanistan have been severely affected by the current food crisis, forcing households to resort to “desperate measures” to put food on the table.

According to the UN report, 95 percent of Afghans do not have proper access to food. The figure reaches nearly 100 percent in households headed by women.

“It is a figure so high that it is almost inconceivable. Yet, devastatingly, it is the harsh reality,” Alakbarov said in his report, before adding that “the fate of an entire generation of Afghans is at stake.”

Wages have also seen a marked decline across industries and regions, as the quantity of available jobs has increased in the countryside but has decreased in the cities and suburbs.

In response to this crisis, the UN has announced plans to help 3.2 million Afghan children who are acutely malnourished via 2,500 treatment sites across the war-torn country.

These facilities contain emergency food rations, agricultural supplies for local farmers, and nursing services for infants.

The governments of Germany, Britain, and Qatar have also said they plan to host an international conference on 31 March to address the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, despite the fact these nations have endorsed a US-led economic blockade against the country.

Last month, President Biden signed an executive order to use half the $7 billion in Afghan funds illegally frozen in US banks to pay the families of the victims of 11 September attacks.

The $7 billion is part of nearly $10 billion of Afghan funds that were frozen by the US and other western governments in August 2021 when the Taliban returned to power amid the chaotic US withdrawal, and after nearly 20 years of occupation.