Afghanistan economy on brink of collapse, NRC warns

The Afghan economy is on the brink of collapse, which would worsen the country's humanitarian catastrophe, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) warned on Monday.

Winter is coming, and hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people urgently need shelter, warm clothes, and food to survive the harsh weather, NRC secretary general Jan Egeland said as he was visiting Kabul.

"I've spoken to families who tell me they are surviving on tea and small scraps of old bread," Egeland added.

The statement said that, since January, more than 664,000 people across Afghanistan have been displaced, which brings the total number of internally displaced people to 3.5 million.

According to the statement, one out of every three citizens in the country is "acutely hungry."

"Donors must focus on providing fast and efficient solutions to delivering urgent aid for children, women, and men that simply cannot wait any longer."

The statement said 16 million – out of the country's estimated 32 million residents – rely on humanitarian aid to survive.

Earlier this month, the international community pledged more than 1.2 billion dollars for humanitarian aids to Afghanistan.

Afghanistan was heavily dependent on international funding for the last 20 years, as 75 per cent of the entire public spending budget was sourced from aid.

With the amounts cut, the unemployment rate is rising, poverty is peaking, and the apparent disability of the Taliban government to ease the economic crisis is only making the humanitarian situation worse in the war-torn country.