蜜芽传媒

Afghanistan has lost nearly $5bn since the Taliban took over the country in 2021, according to a report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Afghanistan's economy has contracted by a quarter, and the new report says the country faces a 'cascading crisis' and 'a crippled economy that humanitarian aid alone cannot address'.

Poverty levels have risen dramatically within the country too, with some people experiencing starvation.

Jan Egeland from the Norwegian Refugee Council told Newsday "This was an economy that was kept up by Western development aid, that aid is completely gone, and there is a new government that took away the female workforce, that had further restrictions on social life, and the result is catastrophic. People cannot afford food, they have no work, there is no economic life".

Photo: Boys ride a bicycle along a street in Kandahar on October 2, 2022. Credit: Getty Images.