The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan has sent the country spiralling into a humanitarian crisis.

Today, some 19 million Afghans cannot feed themselves and that will rise to 23 million by the end of the year. There are 3.2 million children who are acutely malnourished and 1.1 million children who are at risk of dying.

Afghanistan’s humanitarian catastrophe didn’t begin with the Taliban’s shock takeover in August. 

The country is enduring its second severe drought in three years, Covid lockdowns have hit the economy hard, and endless war has sent hundreds of thousands into camps or urban poverty.

Two decades of lavish international funding had brought improvements to Afghanistan, with benchmarks in public health, and education rising. But the nation-building efforts also fuelled corruption and failed to create a sustainable state or economy. 

But the Taliban’s victory, and the international community’s response, have pitched the country into economic free fall. 

Watch the report by Ben Farmer, produced by Harriet Barber