UN seeks $600m for Afghans facing ‘most perilous hour’

UN chief Antonio Guterres says money needed for critical food and livelihood assistance amid shortages in Afghanistan.

The United Nations has urged the world to raise $606m for Afghanistan, where poverty and hunger are spiralling since the Taliban took power and billions in foreign aid have dried up amid Western distrust of the new rulers. After decades of war, suffering and insecurity, Afghans are facing “perhaps their most perilous hour”, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday in his opening remarks to a conference in Geneva seeking aid for Afghanistan, adding that “the people of Afghanistan need a lifeline. “Let us be clear: This conference is not simply about what we will give to the people of Afghanistan. It is about what we owe.”