As its economy implodes and the food crisis grows, its people feel betrayed. No wonder<\/p>\n
The global attention has dissipated, but the crisis is intensifying<\/a>. The bleak year that Afghans have endured is turning to a still bleaker winter. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) predicts that almost 23 million people \u2013 more than half the population \u2013 will face crisis or emergency levels of acute food insecurity before spring: the highest rate ever recorded<\/a>. On Thursday, the UN envoy to the country, Deborah Lyons, warned<\/a> that it is on the brink of catastrophe.<\/p>\n This year, the WFP\u2019s operations in Afghanistan are expected to cost $510m; it predicts<\/a> that it will need almost five times that amount in 2022. The economy shrank by 40% after the Taliban seized power again in August, on top of the devastation wrought by long-running conflict, the pandemic and a severe drought<\/a>. An economy heavily dependent on aid and other foreign cash has had the tap turned off. The population is larger than before, making subsistence farming tougher; migration is harder. People are running out of things to sell. Food and fuel prices have reportedly soared<\/a> by up to 75%. Women have been especially hard-hit<\/a>.<\/p>\n