The bitter cold of Afghanistan’s winter has small children huddled beneath blankets in makeshift camps. Sick babies in hospitals lie wrapped in their mothers all-enveloping burqas. Long lines at food distribution centers have become overwhelming as Afghanistan sinks deeper into desperate times.

Since the chaotic August 15 Taliban takeover of Kabul, an already war-devastated economy once kept alive by international donations alone is now on the verge of collapse. There is not enough money for hospitals.

The World Health Organization is warning of millions of children suffering malnutrition, and the United Nations says 97% of Afghans will soon be living below the poverty line.

A child looks out of a window of his home in a neighbourhood where many internally displaced people have been living for years. (Photo Credit: Associated Press)
A family warm up next to makeshift fire outside the Directorate of Disaster office where they are camped. (Photo Credit: Associated Press)
Taliban fighters and Afghan men pray in Kamar Kalagh village near Herat. (Photo Credit: Associated Press)
An Afghan woman is wrapped in a blanket as she and her family camp outside the Directorate of Disaster. (Photo Credit: Associated Press)
Brothers fill canisters with water from a pool of stagnant water about 3 kilometers far from their home in Kamar Kalagh village. (Photo Credit: Associated Press)