
UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Martin Griffiths (file photo)
The United Nations aid chief, Martin Griffiths , said on January 25 that he had urged the Taliban authorities to offer more clarity on humanitarian sectors that could be reopened for Afghan women workers, warning that a "famine was looming" as the country faces a harsh winter. Afghanistan is confronting one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, aid agencies say, with more than half of its 38 million population facing hunger and nearly 4 million children suffering from malnutrition. The crisis was compounded when Taliban leadership banned Afghan women from working with NGOs, forcing several aid agencies to suspend their vital work.