The United Nations World Food Programme has warned that millions of people face starvation in Afghanistan unless there is a massive scale up in the humanitarian response by the international community.
The head of the World Food Programme in Afghanistan said that hospitals are filling up with malnourished children as limited food, high food prices and high fuel prices are devastating the population.
Mary Ellen McGroarty said people are desperate and there are reports of some parents selling their children to try to put food on the table.
"It's devastating what is happening, desperate people take desperate measures."
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Ms McGroarty said that 19 million people are one step away from severe hunger and this is set to rise to 22.8 million people in the coming weeks as the winter sets in.
The World Food Programme hopes to reach 14 million people with its food trucks by the end of the year and is scaling up its efforts to get food into the country.
She said: "We need to do much, much more...we need a massive, massive scale up in the humanitarian response to prevent a complete catastrophe in Afghanistan".
Ms McGroarty said that "it's going to cost over $200 million a month to do the minimum we need to be doing now to avert a catastrophe".
She explained that the suspension of international on-budget support and the freezing of assets has caused a cash liquidity crisis, with people losing jobs and their access to food and fuel.
Read More:
More than half of Afghans face 'acute' food crisis - UN agencies
G20 leaders agree to step up Afghan humanitarian effort
The WFP has access to all provinces with 170 trucks moving about unimpeded.
Ms McGroarty pleaded with the international community to stand with the people of Afghanistan and the "many, many families [who are] are one step away from starvation".
UN officials have said the United Nations cannot get enough cash into Afghanistan to deliver humanitarian aid to millions of people on the brink of starvation and is struggling to develop options to help stabilise the collapsing economy.
UN agencies are scrambling to find ways to get large amounts of US dollars into Afghanistan to combat a liquidity crisis that has taken hold since the Taliban ousted the Western-backed government in August.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for the International Monetary Fund to agree on waivers or mechanisms to get money into Afghanistan.
The IMF has blocked the Taliban from accessing some $440 million in new emergency reserves.
Much of the Afghan central bank's $10 billion in overseas assets have been frozen as well, most of it in the United States. The US Treasury has said there are no plans to release the money.
"We need to work together to make the economy breathe again and to help people survive," Mr Guterres said on Wednesday.
"Injecting liquidity into the Afghan economy can be done without violating international laws or compromising principles."
Additional reporting Reuters
