The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
January 27, 2022

U.N. Renews Calls to Free Up Aid for Millions of Afghans Facing Starvation, Extreme Poverty
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The United Nations is calling on countries to allow humanitarian aid to
flow into Afghanistan, where an estimated 23 million people face acute
food shortages. Secretary-General António Guterres told the Security
Council on Wednesday that more than half of Afghan citizens are facing
extreme levels of hunger, with some families forced to sell their babies
so they can buy food.

Secretary-General António Guterres: "Six months after the takeover by
the Taliban, Afghanistan is hanging by a thread. For Afghans, daily life
has become a frozen hell."

Secretary-General Guterres said $1.2 billion from the World
Bank-administered Afghan Reconstruction Trust Fund should be freed up
immediately, and humanitarian aid groups should be allowed to operate in
Afghanistan without fear of breaching sanctions imposed after the
Taliban takeover last August.


.