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.