KABUL, – United Nations agencies and their humanitarian partners are racing against time to deliver life-saving aid and supplies to crisis-hit Afghans ahead of winter, a UN agency said on Thursday. “In September, more than 3.8 million people received food assistance, 21,000 children aged 6-59 months and 10,000 women received treatment for acute malnutrition, 32,000 people received non-food items including blankets and warm clothes for winter,” the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Afghanistan said in a statement.

Following the Taliban’s takeover in mid-August, the security situation remained generally calm across the Central Asian country. Millions of people in Afghanistan have been deeply affected by decades of conflict and displacement, chronic poverty, the COVID-19 pandemic, a severe drought, a failing health system, and an economy on the brink of collapse, the OCHA said.

“At the beginning of 2021, the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan was already one of the worst in the world, with nearly half of the population — some 18.4 million people — in need of humanitarian assistance,” it added.

More than 10,000 children were reached with community-based education activities, 450,000 people were covered by primary and secondary healthcare, and 160,000 farmers and herders were provided with livelihood support in September, the OCHA noted. During the period, “12,000 people received emergency psycho-social and mental health support, 186,000 drought-affected people received water, and 150,000 people received hygiene promotion and hygiene kits.”

The Taliban’s newly formed caretaker government has recently paid salaries to government employees for two months in a number of ministries, including ministries of education and public health. Majority of some 400,000 state employees have not received wages since July. “The people of Afghanistan must not pay the price of collective failures.

They deserve a normal life in peace and dignity. We will spare no effort to respond to the needs of all women, men, and children in Afghanistan,” UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Afghanistan Ramiz Alakbarov was quoted in the statement as saying. In the past week UN World Food Programme (WFP) distributed specialized nutritious foods to prevent malnutrition for over 6,500 kids under the age of five across the country.

“We are witnessing a new depth of destitution as the drought and the economic crisis drive up food and fuel prices. Getting food to families across Afghanistan before the cold and harsh winter is what we must do now,” Mary-Ellen McGroarty, representative and country director of the WFP in Afghanistan, said in the statement.

On Sept. 13, humanitarian community launched the Afghanistan Flash Appeal, calling for 606 million U.S. dollars in support. Despite the outpouring support and global attention to the dire situation in Afghanistan, the flash appeal remains only 35 percent funded. “Pledges and commitments by donors must urgently be turned into reality … without urgent action, the humanitarian situation will continue to deteriorate into 2022,” the OCHA said.

Since the start of this year, over 634,000 people have been displaced by conflicts, and about 5.5 million people have been displaced since 2012. Marin Din Kajdomcaj, deputy representative at the UN refugee agency UNHCR in Afghanistan, said in the statement that if the commitments made by the international community are not delivered now, millions of displaced Afghans will struggle to survive over the coming winter.

“A lack of immediate action will inevitably lead to a deeper humanitarian crisis and further displacement that will have not only regional, but global implications,” he said. Richard Trenchard, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)’s representative in Afghanistan, said, “FAO is deeply concerned about the rural crisis affecting 70 percent of the Afghan population. 80 percent of Afghans depend directly or indirectly on rural livelihoods.”

“The importance of agriculture in keeping the people of Afghanistan fed, alive, and self-reliant cannot be overstated,” he noted. The UN and humanitarian partners are sparing no effort to overcome financial shortfalls, logistical challenges, and an increasingly complex geopolitical situation to support millions of people in Afghanistan who depend on humanitarian assistance and protection, the OCHA said.