The World Food Program (WFP) has expressed “deep concern” over the rapidly growing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan as reports emerged of Afghans resorting to selling their children and body parts. The international community needs to expedite aid delivery to the country as over half of the population is starving in Afghanistan, David Basely, the executive director of the UN World Food Program, said in an interview. Sky News On Friday reported that people in several families in one of the villages in Afghanistan's western province of Herat have sold their kidneys to get some money to buy food. In one case, parents who had sold their kidneys were now thinking of selling one of their seven children as they could not see all their children crying all day for food.

The report also contained pictures of several men showing their surgery marks on their abdomen.
Western sanctions, followed by the Taliban’s violent takeover of power in Afghanistan, crippled the country’s economy, creating a shortage of food, fuel, and essentials. Around 57 percent of the country’s total population is at risk of acute hunger, including two million children who are facing acute malnutrition, reports said. 

WFP head Basely said that if billionaires of the world allocate the income of their single day to the country, it will end the humanitarian crisis, reported Khaama Press. The lack of cash, he added, is the real challenge as people aren’t able to access their savings.

The WFP has estimated that it will need $2.6 billion to provide foodstuff to people in Afghanistan this year. The UN had recently estimated that it will need around $4.4 billion in assistance to tackle the crisis in Afghanistan—its largest-ever donation appeal for any country. 

However, humanitarian assistance is unlikely to stave off the kind of crisis unfolding in Afghanistan.

“We must pull the economy back from the brink,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres earlier this week in his briefing to the UN Security Council. He added, “This means finding ways to free-up frozen currency reserves and re-engage Afghanistan’s Central Bank.”

He further urged the international community to explore other ways to rapidly inject liquidity into the economy.