Nearly four months after the Taliban seized power – Afghanistan is facing a growing humanitarian and economic crisis. Aid organizations warn a million children could die of acute malnutrition in the coming months. Hundreds of Afghans marched in the streets of Kabul on Tuesday with banners reading, “Let us eat” and “Give us our frozen assets.” In August, the United States froze more than nine billion dollars in reserves belonging to the Afghan Central Bank. The lack of funding has crippled Afghanistan’s already troubled economy. State employees from doctors to teachers have not been paid in months. The United Nations says the country is on the brink of a catastrophe.

Joining the discussion:

• Omar Sadr is a Senior Research Fellow with the Center for Governance and Markets at the University of Pittsburgh.
• Haroun Rahimi is an Associate Professor at the American University of Afghanistan.
• Babar Baloch is the Global Spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
• Sulaiman Bin Shah served as the Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce in Ashraf Ghani’s administration. 

For more:

“This is Sayed Kanak village. It is a mountainous area,” says Suraya as she takes us through a day in her school life 💙 in #Afghanistan.

In Bamyan, we are supporting 120 community-based education centres. More than 2000 children are enrolled in them & half of them are girls! pic.twitter.com/13JYUBJ3zn

— UNICEF South Asia (@UNICEFROSA) December 20, 2021

Editorial: "Pakistan has done well to organise the OIC summit and it goes to the credit of FM Qureshi and Foreign Office for ensuring very strong participation. The event has made headlines and has focused attention on plight of people of Afghanistan."https://t.co/fle24dYFbU

— Dawn.com (@dawn_com) December 21, 2021

More than 40 House Democrats urge Treasury Department to unfreeze Afghanistan’s bank reserves https://t.co/zntteGGRiX

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) December 20, 2021